Wow! A yellow spotlight shines powerfully on Princess Dinosaur, a bright-green creature in a fluffy, ruffled, hot-pink dress, enveloped by a flowing red and ermine robe. And can she ever ROAR! Bouncing between her Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personas, she ferociously smashes toys and holds a lovely tea party with her stuffed animal subjects. Simple rhyming text follows the little royal reptile through contradictory activities ("Princess Dinosaur stalks her prey. / Princess Dinosaur does ballet.") Each double-page spread is awash with tiny drawings of the results of her frenetic activities: air balloons flying, knickknacks tumbling from a bureau's open drawers, portraits of bewigged royalty, woolly mammoths crayoned on the walls. Cartoon-like illustrations done in fluorescent watercolor and pen and ink explode off the page. A rousing tale, filled with possibility, that's certain to inspire little readers, especially girls, who will be fired up by Princess Dinosaur's larger-than-life personality.

This rhyming picture book introduces readers to Princess Dinosaur, a lime-green reptilian gal who contains multitudes. Outlining her oft-changing interests and qualities, Kibblesmith aptly conveys children's complexity, mutability, and fickleness in playful prose ("She's ferocious as can be./ She also hosts a lovely tea"). A memorable spread shows Princess Dinosaur shifting in size and shape, unleashing "her inner beast" on the bright left page before the right page features her small and sequestered form in a white-walled room for a resulting time-out. Illustrations done in watercolors and ink pens are bold but flatly colored; Quach makes effective use of varying perspectives, however, evoking Frank Remciewicz's classic Froggy character designs, while hand-lettered typography adds a colorfully engaging emphasis. An inspiring story that gently bucks gendered expectations and celebrates how multifaceted dinosaurs--and children--can be. Ages 4--8. (Jan.)