Benedict Blathwayt

A dinosaur, is playing with his friends, with each one trying to top the others in tests of agility, daring, or strength. Then, a gang of bullies turns up and spoils the game. When Fin challenges the intruders, a chase begins. Slowly, they drop off as one cant leap, one cant swim, one cant climb, etc. Finally, the only remaining pursuer is T. rex, at which point Fin spreads his feeble fluffy arms and flies away. The story line is slight and forgettable, but young dinosaur lovers will be show more drawn in by Blathwayts highly detailed illustrations. Each reptile, as well as the landscape that Fin and his pursuers traverse, is carefully drawn with clean lines and in a crisp palette that invites children to pore over the pictures. show less

We came upon this book at Border's shortly before they went out of business. It was a great deal, and who doesn't like trains, so we grabbed it without even leafing through it. Now that we've started reading it, I'm so glad we got it. The stories are simple enough for 2-3 year olds, but long enough for a bedtime story. The illustrations are the big selling point however, they are simply amazing, so full of details. I'm sure my son will be going back to the book by himself to contemplate and show more admire the pictures, even after it disappears from our reading list.
Actually, they're probably great early reader books as well. show less

Tiny Tangle the Northwoodsman and his friend Burr cling to the pontoons of a plane and take off for a great adventure. The "silver bird," as they call the plane, lands near a farm. Here they encounter a ravenous cat but are saved, in deus ex machina style, by a mysterious human whose face remains unseen. The friendly goose who had warned them of danger fortunately arrives to fly them home to their very own woods. This British fantasy is a sequel to Tangle and the Firesticks (Knopf, 1987). show more The watercolor illustrations are overly detailed and in some cases so jumbled as to be confusing. The main characters, with their pointed ears, hairy bodies, and clawed feet, are disturbing ugly. Their adventure, in which the diminutive Tangle and Burr meet up with cows, chickens, and that ferocious cat, jumps from scene to scene too quickly. The most interesting aspect, their brief encounters with the unseen human, remains a mysterious contrivance to save the little creatures from harm, and to move them conveniently from place to place about the house and farmyard. show less

When a tiny mischievous creature is banished from his homeland, he returns a hero after meeting a human and acquiring some firesticks.