Rex Finds an Egg! Egg! Egg!

Rex, a baby Tyrannosaurus Rex whose bucktoothed grin and bowling-ball head wouldn’t be out of place in the Flintstones household, spots a spotted prize next to a nestful of dinosaur eggs: “Rex finds an... Egg? Egg. Egg!” He holds it close when a nearby volcano starts smoking and he has to “Run. Run! Run!” (This ritual repetition, which continues throughout, is guaranteed to fuel readaloud energy.) Weinberg’s (To Timbuktu) artwork grabs attention from the first page. Big, loose outlines in hot vermilion leap out against the soft pastels that tint the rest of the prehistoric landscape. It’s all about action as Rex falls off a cliff, tumbles into an ocean filled with marvelous prehistoric life (a moment of genuine beauty), is lifted into the sky by a pterodactyl and keeps on moving. After Rex’s egg survives a tense and terrible fall, the truth dawns—it’s a rock, not an egg, and Rex’s attention quickly moves elsewhere. This discovery registers more as a disappointment than a punch line, but it remains a visually striking story that moves fast, fast, fast. Ages 4–8. Agent: Marcia Wernick, Wernick & Pratt. (Feb.)