While his classmates are participating in typical school room activities such as building block towers, creating craft projects, writing on the chalk board or reading books, Tyrannosaurus can't help but come in and deliberately WRECK everything, causing chaos, mess and really upsetting his entire class.
Eventually, they've all had enough and they tell Tyrannosaurus so, declaring "Tyrannosaurus No!", "Tyrannosaurus Stop!", and "Tyrannosaurus Go!".
Tyrannosaurus realises with a flood of giant dino tears that his poor behaviour has lead to him being excluded, lonely and sad, but he quickly figures out how to redeem himself and play nicely with his (very forgiving) friends.
The rhyme of this story flows quickly and smoothly, and dinosaur fangirls/boys will get a kick out of the range of dinosaur names used throughout. Ohara's bright illustrations have a 60's flare reminiscent of Richard Scarry's style, while still managing to maintain a modern and distinctive feel. The unique colour palette and beautiful production quality of the book combine to create a perfect gift for any dinosaur mad child.
School age kids will readily relate to the classroom setting, however the story is also short enough and active enough to hold the attention of a younger audience, making it a great resource for daycare or preschool rooms to introduce discussions on playing nicely (or to instigate some mad dinosaur stomping, depending on your mood).
Additionally, this would be a great resource to explore how children can be empowered to deal with the bad behaviour of others, beyond running to tell a grown up. When the students in the story have had enough, they stand up for themselves and remove themselves from a bad situation, not by being mean and not by using physical force, but by being firm and fair when dealing with the difficult Tyrannosaurus.
Title: Tyrannosaurus Wrecks
Author: Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Illustrator: Zachariah Ohora
Publisher: Abrams, $17.95
Publication Date: 1 February 2014
Format: Hardback
ISBN:9781419710353
For ages: 3-7
Type: Picture Book
