In Comparison

Throughout the years the fascination with dinosaurs, especially for younger students, has never faded.  Those books are among the most loved books in libraries; copies worn and repaired, gaping holes on the shelves assigned to them because they are always checked out.  I've often wondered if the success of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park (other than his skills as an outstanding writer) was not because it appeals to our younger selves.  It's hard not to be curious about our planet in the far past, a time so different from our own.

Each of us pursues this interest, as we do any learning for that matter, differently; either by reading, listening, seeing or participation.  Lita Judge (Red Sled, Red Hat) spent three summers on a dinosaur dig after writing a letter to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada when she was fifteen.  How fortunate for readers she combines her passion for this subject with her considerable skills as an author and illustrator to present to us How Big Were Dinosaurs? (Roaring Brook Press).  

Stalking, running, stomping, crushing.

When we think of dinosaurs we think

of huge MONSTERS. 

We do tend to think of dinosaurs as being larger than life.  Even if they wouldn't be looking at us as the first course of a meal, we wonder how we would not be crushed by their slightest movements.  Perhaps not all dinosaurs are as large as we think they are or...some might even be gigantic.  

It's hard to believe but there were dinosaurs smaller than a chicken. What a Microraptor lacked in size, it made up for in hunting skills.  The Protoceratops would have been a perfect playmate for a baby rhinoceros, their size so similar. There were dinosaurs living near the South Pole?   Only about two feet tall, Leaellynasaura made its home in the land of long sunless, frigid days.

Imagine walking a dog-sized dinosaur on a very long leash  (they loved meat), galloping to someone's rescue on a horse-sized prehistoric creature or avoiding a SUV-sized brunt covered in armor weighing four times as much as the vehicle.  Have you noticed the sizes are increasing?  Next up is one weighing as much as three cows with three-foot long spiky plates but lacking in the intelligence department.

Not only are the sizes climbing upward but the physical characteristics are becoming stranger and more scary; a unicorn-like spike, a skull bigger than the ceiling height in most homes and claws the length of yardsticks. Yikes!  As daunting as the Tyrannosaurus rex was, it's measurements were diminished by those of the Argentinosaurus.  It would be hard for this beast to sneak anywhere with it's length and weight.  You'll be astounded.

When reading books written by Lita Judge, especially her nonfiction, it's as if we are students in a magical classroom with a master educator who teaches people not any specific subject.  Her approach to providing information is conversational; her sentences a reflection of her enjoyment in sharing what she knows with us.  In helping us understand the varying sizes of these twelve dinosaurs, she compares them to animals, people and vehicles we know.  She educates but entertains.  It's a gift to make learning fun.  Here is a single sentence sample.

And honestly, with a name like Leaellynasaura, you'd think these dinosaurs were tree-eating giants.

Spread across two full pages Argentinosaurus is introduced to readers in all its enormous glory.  Beneath in proportionate size is Microraptor next to a chicken with an astonished guy gazing upward.  Lita Judge has already began to teach us with her matching jacket and cover illustration.

Again on the two pages for the title, she compares the smallest with the largest dinosaurs discussed within this book.  Her pencil and watercolor illustrations not only enhance the text but tell a story of their own.  In the first two pages she gives us a close-up of a Microraptor.  It's how most of us think of dinosaurs. With a page turn we see the reality, the comparison to a chicken.

Two page spreads are dedicated to each dinosaur surrounded but generous amounts of white space drawing attention to the specifics of her pictures.  There is a definite sense of playfulness, a gentle kind of humor, in each visual; Protoceratops weaving beneath an adult rhinoceros, Leaellynasaura peeking around penguins with its large eyes, Tsintaosaurus being shooed out of a garden by a distraught woman with a broom and Torosaurus being pushed and pulled into a large veterinary office.  She completes her book with How Do We Know How Big Dinosaurs Were? explanation with a four page fold-out visually comparing these prehistoric beings with present day people, animals and things.

Lita Judge's newest release, How Big Were Dinosaurs?, is what readers have come to expect and love about her work; a pictorial pleasure along with an interesting and enjoyable narrative.  Readers will want to step into her world of dinosaurs over and over.  When you finish reading a Lita Judge book you feel as if you've been touched by a sense of wonder.  You have a new appreciation for the world in which you live.

A short author's note with a listing of websites and books used as references for the creation of this book are listed on the final page.  By following the link embedded in Lita Judge's name above you can access her website.  Please follow this link to the publisher website to view additional illustrations.

And They're Off...

You'd never know it from looking out the window but yesterday, March 20, 2013 was the official first day of spring.  In the past forty-eight hours we went from a winter weather advisory to a winter storm warning to a lake effect snow advisory.  Due to the gusty breezes off Lake Michigan our wind chills have been in the single digits and the foot deep snow drifts are commonplace again.

At times like this the best thing to do is build a roaring fire in the fireplace, drink hot chocolate and read a cheerful, new book release featuring green grass, trees with leaves, yellow butterflies and forest youngsters.  With the same gift for portraying animal antics as she did in Red Sled (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, November 2011)(reviewed here) Lita Judge's new title Red Hat (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) takes us to the familiar setting in a new season.  Curiosity and opportunity converge creating another wild romp.


As soon as the front cover is opened we are greeted with the title page picturing the child clad in a red hat running across a meadow, yellow flower in hand, the small brown cottage in the background, as four rabbits watch from the lower corner.  On the next two pages we see a wash tub has been placed on the grass in front of the cottage; the child washing the hat.  Three baby rabbits and their mother scamper closer for a look.

Swish swash swish swash

On a line stretched between a pine and birch tree the now clean hat hangs, rabbits jumping beneath as a baby bear and mother bear approach.  Temptation being too great, the younger bear snags the hat from its perch galloping away in delight.  With the flash and dash other animals join the chase, a porcupine and raccoon.  Of the two with a squint and reach, the bandit grabs the tasseled end.

Now the hat has switched to another wearer only this time it's started to unravel, what with all the tugging and pulling.  With vocal glee, Yoo-ha!, a tiny mouse grabs on for the ride of his life.  His wide-eyed wonder turns to worry the run escalating, whipping him around trees, as another flop-eared friend grips on for the trip, too.

What's that?  Possession has been reclaimed by the bear as he heads over a hill.  Then...all the frivolity comes to a screeching halt.  Where once there was a hat, red yarn is strung about clothespins.  With a Tink-a-tink tink a pleasing conclusion is fashioned for more than one.


Using only a minimum of words, onomatopoeic sounds or brief exclamations, Lita Judge's illustrations tell her story.  Rendered in pencil and watercolor there is an undercurrent of barely concealed mirth evident on all the pages.  A glowing warmth shines from the abundance of green, the hues of browns, the white, the yellow and splashes of red.  You can almost feel the sun on your face.

The animation on each of the characters' faces is brimming with expression; glee, curiosity, exuberance, satisfaction, concern, guilt and nonchalance.  Judge alternates the view for her readers;  closing in to show just the paws pulling the hat from the clothesline or the mouse grabbing the yarn but then pulling back to show all of the animals running with or holding on to the hat.  The tiniest of details add to the laughter readers will not be able to contain when reading; the mouse grasping the porcupine's quill after his fall or a rabbit's ears tied in a knot.

Each of the two page spreads throughout is framed with a pencil line, then a larger white border.  To show movement characters or the yarn will break out of the frame into the white space.  My favorite illustration is when the critters crazy caper is stopped and we readers are looking at their upturned faces.

Red Hat written and illustrated by Lita Judge is pure, perfect fun from beginning to end.  It's as if she has happiness stored in a bottle sprinkling it over her pages so when readers open the book it wraps around us.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Follow the link embedded in Lita Judge's name above to view her official website.  She has many pictures from this book there for your enjoyment plus she has a red hat contest.  Select Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast to read her interview.  Enjoy this video chat with Lita Judge and book trailer for Red Hat.