Gator is a carousel alligator who goes through some life changes. At first, he is on the carousel, surrounded by lights, color, and, his favorite thing, laughter. But, times change, and people quit coming to the amusement park and the laughter fades. After a deep sleep, he decides to leave the carousel and go out into the world. He comes to a deep, dark forest, a bridge, a zoo, and eventually finds himself on a bench, tired and lonely. A little boy and his father, who used to ride Gator when he was young, come upon Gator and end up following him back to the old carousel, which suddenly springs to life and is filled with children, all laughing. While I enjoyed Cecil's illustrations, except for Gator's head never being down unless he's crying, I found the text somewhat disjointed. The fact that Gator walks through a deep, dark forest does nothing for the plot of the story. His encounter with real alligators at the zoo is quite anti-climatic since the real ones sleep right through it. The bridge episode is the only meaningful event on Gator's travel because he learns something from actual experience. Since it's the best part of the book, I won't give it away. You'll just have to read Gator and Yes, it's worth one read.
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs By Mo Willems New York: Balzar + Bray, 2012. Picture Book. "Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur . . . and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway. One day--for no particular reason--they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then--for no particular reason--they decided to go . . . someplace else. They were definitely not setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl. Definitely not!" --Editor Smart Vs. Strong! Written by Jill Esbaum Illustrated by Miles Thompson New York: Simon Spotlight, 2021. Easy Reader. 64 pages. "When Thunder gets stuck in quicksand, Cluck uses his smarts to free his friend." --Editor How Dinosaurs Went Extinct Written by Ame Dyckman Illustrated by Jennifer Harney New York: Brown and Company, 2023. Picture Book. "When a child in a museum asks how dinosaurs became extinct, Dad co
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