A cute variation on the “it followed me home, can I keep it?” story.
Creative Staff
Story & Art: Sara Richard
What They Say
The bond of love and friendship will never grow extinct!
When a little boy brings home a dinosaur egg, the cat of the house isn’t too keen on the tiny creature that pops out. But after a few weeks of showing the new baby the ropes, a bond forms between kitty and dino that transcends species. Featuring the unique, unforgettable artwork of Sara Richard!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Amid the manga and light novels that Yen Press publishes on a regular basis they occasionally take a moment to release books with a younger audience in mind. Kitty & Dino is their latest surprise title that is suitable for all ages of reader, so with that in mind I took it to an expert to see what he thought.
My six year old nephew, Ian, was kind enough to sneak out of sight of his sister to record his own review of the book, which you can listen to the audio of below. (He wasn’t so fond of the idea of a video review, I guess he’s a bit camera shy.)
The book is hardcover and full color, with a nice large trim size that’s very sturdy. The layout of the story is half picture book and half comic. Pages are split into large sets of panels or stand alone as large splash illustrations. The entire book has just one line of dialog, allowing the art to tell the story, which is simple fun as we watch Kitty go from reluctant and annoyed to accepting as her friendship with Dino grows. It also makes the book easy for kids of all ages to read. (Although I wasn’t able to get my two year old niece to sit still long enough to get her take on the story.) I thought that a parent might be a bit annoyed that the two pets seem to escape being scolded for wrecking the families living room, but amazingly the whole scene passed by my sister without comment.
Richard uses wild, sweeping lines to create the lanky kitty and surprisingly realistic looking dino. The brushwork alternates between think and thin in long unbroken strokes which give the characters the feeling of constant flowing movement, even in still scenes. The pastel colors blend one into the next, with Dino a rainbow that contradicts the bland looking T-rexes that populated my childhood. (Amusingly, the first thing I noticed is that young Dino has a fluffy down coat.) To accent the art even further are speckles and splashes of white ink, with the texture of the paint and original paper still apparent in the printed art. Richard’s art is something unique and beautiful, which really helps sell the book for an older reader who just wants some eye candy, or for a parent tired of looking at the same squishy and googly-eyed art of most kids books.
In Summary
Kitty & Dino is quite nice as a beginner comic book for the youngest of readers. It’s a quick read, but it’s a wonderful book to pick up for the artwork alone, and the cute story is a keeper.
Grade: A+
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 9th, 2012
MSRP: $16.99
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