Detective Dinosaur<small> (I Can Read Book 2) <br>by James Skofield, Illus. by R.W. Alley </small>

This is one of those books that is a bit silly (Picture Inspector Clouseau as a dinosaur talking to second graders), but at the same time also teaches in a mellow and fun way. This is a collection of three "detective stories" featuring Officer Pterodactyle, Chief Tyrannosaurus and Deputy Diplodocus. The setting is probably London at the turn of the century.

The three cases which must be solved are:

The Case of the Missing Hat
The Case of the Squeaking Shoe
Night Patrol

We have three rather silly dinosaur police officers...again I am put in the mind of either Inspector Clouseau with a mixture of the Keystone Cops...trying to solve some pretty silly cases. As has been pointed out, the jokes here are pretty well worn, but for fresh ears they are quite cute and funny.

Now children of this age probably already know more dinosaur names than you or me, but the author has done a wonderful job of providing a pronunciation guide which is a no miss guide, and a good spelling guide. The kids seem to delight in pronouncing these names and that is one of the strengths of this work.

The illustrations are cute, funny and skillfully executed with plenty of mellow color. While the situations our not so able officers encounter are pretty obvious, they never the less tickle the funny bone of most children and will bring a smile or smirk to the most jaded of adult readers. The details in the illustrations are quite detailed, not only of the officers, but also the background and clothing.

Now this is not a work that I would necessarily put at the top of my "to purchase list" but it is certainly one that is worth checking out from the local library, or if available, purchasing at a nice used book store.

The text is smooth, easy to read and accompanied with the wonderful illustrations the story is well told at a level that a first or second grader can well understand and appreciate. This is also an excellent book to start the transition to chapter books for the little ones.

I like this work and do recommend it.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks