Patrick's Dinosaurs

Every evening at closing time I go around gathering up any and all stray books that have been left here there or wherever.   (We scan them all in case any might be listed as lost or missing before putting them back into the rotation to be re-shelved.)    And one Sunday afternoon awhile back I picked up  Patrick’s Dinosaurs on the Internet by writer Carol Carrick and illustrator David Milgrim.    The bright and comical illustrations appealed to me and I set it aside to be included in some Easy Picture Book roundup or another.

In reading the book and the cover blurbs I learned that Patrick’s Dinosaurs on the Internet was actually a sequel to two books written in the 1980′s by Carol Carrick and her late husband the illustrator Donald Carrick.   I fetched the two earlier works the next time I shelved in Easy Picture Books and am thrilled to share all three of them with you today on The Thin Red Line.

The original Patrick’s Dinosaurs is the story of a small boy who so vividly imagines the dinosaurs his playmate describes that they seem real to him at the zoo, around town and in the neighborhood.   Luckily at the end, Patrick closes the door and the dinosaurs are gone, presumably back to his imagination.     In the follow up volume What Happened to Patrick’s Dinosaurs, Patrick and his friend speculate and imagine on all sorts of things dinosaurs might have done and invented during their time on earth.    The stories are highly imaginative and Mr. Carrick’s almost old-fashioned illustrations with a somewhat subdued color palate give to these books a wonderful sweetness.

By contrast, Milgrim’s very brightly colored and somewhat more primitive illustrations in Patrick’s Dinosaurs On The Internet gives this book a very different look and feel while Ms. Carrick’s real gift for imaginative story telling and seeming affinity with dinosaurs comes through as in the earlier works.    I have noticed at the library that our collection of small plastic toy dinosaurs are easily the most popular toys with our youngest patrons.    If you have a toddler who is fascinated by a rubber T-Rex,  Carrick’s three Patrick books would be a great way to get her more interested in story time.    All three are Highly Recommended.