Rex by Simon James
| Rex by Simon James | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Louise Jones
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| Summary: A baby dinosaur adopts a scary T.Rex as his dad. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 40 | Date: April 2014 |
| Publisher: Walker Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781406348224 | |
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Tyrannosaurus Rex is the scariest dinosaur around. He can pull whole trees out of the ground, crush boulders with his bare claws and chase away the other dinosaurs with his mighty roar! Everything changes one night when he finds an abandoned egg in a cave. A baby dinosaur pops out and decides that T.Rex is his Dadda.
Rex is a heartwarming story about what it really means to be a dad. It may particularly resonate with stepfamilies and those with adopted or foster children, although its appeal is universal. Over the course of the story, we see the bond between T.Rex and little Rex grow stronger, especially when little Rex tries to emulate his ‘dad’ in everything he does, with some understandably comical results.
The artwork is bright and cheerful and captures the mood perfectly. Although the characters have quite a simple design, they are able to convincingly convey a range of emotions as the story progresses. Little Rex is loveable and we really do care about what happens to him. Purists and dino-fanatics may balk at the historical inaccuracies (they chase a Wooly Mammoth at one point), but Rex is clearly not designed to be a scientific textbook and most readers will appreciate the fact that this is primarily a story about family and relationships, something it manages to do exceedingly well.
I really enjoyed Rex, especially as it explored the father-son relationship, something we perhaps don’t see enough of in children’s literature. With its delightful storyline and attractive artwork, I have a feeling that Rex may become a modern classic.
If you love Simon James' distinctive artwork, try Baby Brains and RoboMum
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You can read more book reviews or buy Rex by Simon James at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Rex by Simon James at Amazon.com.
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