Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo

This droll tale of dinosaur ``pethood'' will bring to mind various animal predicaments from other books about oversized creatures: Bridwell's ``Clifford the Big Red Dog'' series (Scholastic) for example, or Kellogg's The Mysterious Tadpole (Dial, 1977). Bob the dinosaur is a friendly sort, who plays the trumpet, can scare off burglars, and loves to play baseball. But his playful antics result in trouble when the police arrest him for chasing cars with his dog friends and disturbing the peace. His baseball skills come to the rescue when he helps the Pimlico Pirates win their opening game. Bob is forgiven and joins the Lazardo family in a musical cookout celebration under the stars. The illustrations, more than the plot, are what will stick in readers' minds. Deep, rich colors and Bob's smooth, verdant hide add a sort of dreamy quality to the pictures, which complement the understated humor of the story. The setting seems to be based more on images from old movies than any one era, giving an added dimension of humor. The pictures have a picaresque quality similar to, but not as stylized as, Roy Gerrard's work in The Favershams (Farrar, 1987). Overall, a nice choice for a young child's bedtime story, or an older child's reading and perusal.