Small Readers: Dino School: Meet Teddy Rex! by Bonnie Williams, illustrated by John Gordon

This easy reader hits the mark on several points for me.

Dino School welcomes a new pupil: Teddy Rex! Everyone is friendly and Teddy is excited about his new school, but he has a little problem. When he gets excited, he just can't help but ROAR and accidents ensue. But with a little friendly help from the teacher and fellow students, Teddy learns when it's ok to roar and when he needs to use an inside voice.

The cartoon pictures have a colored-pencil/crayon scribble look that makes them fun and very school-like. Dinosaur fans will enjoy the colorful, perky dinosaurs that fill the pages, even if they're not factually accurate.

I especially appreciate that the font used is large and bold and stands out clearly from the colorful background and figures.

This has an accessible and familiar storyline that kids can relate to, lively and bright pictures, and text that is a good fit for beginning readers. The plot in general has a younger feel, so I'd recommend it to beginning readers in kindergarten.

Verdict: Not necessarily a stand-out title, but a good, solid filler for the easy reader section. I'm only sorry that there's only two books in the series, since I can see it being popular along the lines of Biscuit.

ISBN: 9781442449961; Published 2012 by Simon Spotlight; Borrowed from another library in my consortium