Thesaurus Rex

"Thesaurus Rex spends his day exercising, exploring, and getting into trouble. After a nutritious dinner, the little turquoise dinosaur takes a bath and is tucked into bed by his mom. Filled with descriptive language, the text offers numerous synonyms for each activity. For example, when Rex exercises, he is 'stretching, reaching, extending, bending.' The bouncy, rhyming language is enhanced by bright watercolor-and-crayon illustrations that create a wonderful sense of movement. One picture shows the happy dinosaur jumping into a swamp; brown mud splashes cross over to the opposite page where he is shown again, no longer smiling and buried in the slime. Many of the words used are listed as synonyms in Scholastic Children's Thesaurus (Scholastic, 1998) and American Heritage Children's Thesaurus (American Heritage, 2003), a connection that could be useful for older students. An entertaining and painless way for children to broaden their vocabulary while enjoying a fun story." —School Library Journal