Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

The art is really the star of the show here, with bright, cartoon-y dinosaurs on a black background (the ground, leaves, and trees are rendered in dark gray, so the dinos are the only colorful things in the picture, which focuses attention nicely). Other than that it's a variation on the classic "Have You Seen My Mother?" story (see also: Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton) ( )

The artwork in this book is cute and will no doubt appeal to the Dino-lovin' crowd out there. The story isn't new, which is okay since kids like repetition, but that might make this book a Library Find rather than one you rush out to purchase.

MAMASAURUS falls into the 'where's my mother' genre. Little dino swooops off mom and momentarily loses her. In his search to find mom he talks to other baby dinosaurs.

This search would have been enhanced if the author had chosen to use the real names of the dinosaurs in question. Instead he used abbreviations. He called baby Triceratops, for example, 'Tritopa'.

On the plus side, I particularly like the emphasis on characteristics that helps distinguish each animal. Ornito, who I believe is an Ornithomimosaur, asks our baby if his/her mother runs "faster than the wind", while the 'tricerotops' baby asks if his/her mom has a 'long horn like my mama'. I think this gets children thinking about how we tell the difference between different animals. (And if they don't think of it, we can, of course, bring it up for discussion.)

SUMMARY
The background is black which really makes the colorful dinosaurs pop!

Children who love where's my mother stories will probably like this version which features dinosaurs.

Moms and other Readers can have some fun with slightly older children by asking them what dinosaur is in the pictures. There are hints in the names the characters are given. (If you aren't dino savvy you'll have to do some sleuth work on the internetz.)

**review copy

This children's book reminded me of a book called "Are you my mother?" where a little bird is lost and asks multiple animals if they are his mother. In this story, a baby brachiosaurus loses his mother and he asks different, young dinosaurs if they have seen his mother. Babysaurus describes his mother to the different baby dinosaurs and they all say page after page that they haven't seen her. This story has repetition and is a great story for students to read to learn about family bonds, love, and never giving up. The names of the baby dinosaurs were very creative and the illustrations were very well done. ( )