Lulu and the Brontosaurus
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5.0 • 6 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Now in paperback, an illustrated chapter book from industry legends Judith Viorst and Lane Smith!
I’m gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, gonna, get
a bronto-bronto-bronto-bronto-saurus for a pet!
Lulu is so accustomed to getting what she wants that when her parents deny her birthday request for a brontosaurus, she throws a four-day temper tantrum and then storms off into the forest in search of the dinosaur she clearly deserves. Lulu isn’t particularly impressed with the snake, tiger, and bear she encounters, but then she finds him—a beautiful, long-necked, graceful brontosaurus. Mr. B completely agrees with Lulu that having a pet would be a wonderful thing, and Lulu thinks she’s gotten her birthday wish at last. Until she realizes that Mr. Brontosaurus thinks that she would make an ideal pet for him!
How will Lulu ever get out of this sticky situation without throwing a fit (Mr. B does not respond well to those), or using force (Mr. B is much too tall to bonk on the head with her suitcase), or smushing her pickle sandwich? Beloved children’s author Judith Viorst and Caldecott-winning illustrator Lane Smith offer a fresh and funny tale with several surprise endings!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
While no one can question Viorst and Smith s street cred, they ve turned in a curiously unaffecting chapter book. Lulu, a Louise Brooks look-alike, was a pain a very big pain in the butt. Given to screech till the lightbulbs burst when she doesn t get her way, Lulu quickly wears down parental resistance to her whims. But when Lulu tries to turn a brontosaurus into a birthday pet, she discovers that there may be a creature who s more willful (and far better mannered about it) than she is. Will Lulu spend the rest of her life as the dinosaur s pet? Will this encounter turn her into a kinder, gentler kid? The plot and characters barely seems to matter or act only as setups for Viorst s irreverent, metafictional nudges. Is that where a brontosaurus would live? In a forest? I m afraid that I m not absolutely sure. But since I m the person writing this story, I m putting this brontosaurus in a forest. It s an approach that s made Smith and Jon Scieszka deservedly famous, but here despite the fun to be had in seeing Lulu finally meet her match it feels self-indulgent. Smith s angular pencil illustrations bubble with arch humor, but it s not enough to rescue this effort. Ages 6 10.
