Kitty & Dino by Sara RichardI've only once in my life reviewed a picture book and that was for an assignment, so I'm not really sure how to approach this. The book in question, however, is worth the effort.
A boy finds a dinosaur egg and brings it home. But that isn't the story. The story is the friendship that grows between Kitty and the dinosaur that hatches. It's a beautiful story, told with only about 12 words (not counting sound effects). In this case it isn't the words that make the story, but the pictures. The illustrations are inspired by Japanese ink paintings (I know this because it says so inside the cover, not because I know anything about art), expressive and warm and rich. I love them. I could stare at them for hours.
I particularly love the cat. It's so cat-like and full of personality that I wanted to take it home.
For a while after I read this book I could only think in exclamation marks. Cat! Dinosaur! Cute! Pictures! Colours! Gah! It was a little overwhelming, but I had a silly grin on my face and warm fuzzies in my belly. This book isn't much good for reading aloud, but it is the kind of book you want to linger over and read again (and again). It is, in short, delightful.
