"What's Wrong with a Pet Dinosaur?" is a fun collection of poems and verse aimed at primary-aged children with lots of rhyming and clever wordplay. The topics of the poems are easily relatable to the younger audience - silly, funny giggles with thought and depth behind them.

My kids weren't fans of the simple illustrations that accompanied the verses, but they're very visual kids; they may appeal to others

~Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review~

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cute little kids poetry book. Would recommend. Plenty of giggles whilst reading to my four year old.

Four stars ⭐

This was such a cute children’s poetry book that never stopped rhyming! It's a must read book that every library should have.

This was definitely one of the cutest poetry books I’ve read in a long time. The book consists of adorable illustrations and a collection of children’s poetry from topics ranging from Spicy Carrots (my favourite) to toots (in my opinion, the funniest).
I would highly recommend this book for anyone with young children who just need a good laugh every so often. It is filled with hidden powerful messages. The book itself flows very easily from one poem to another. I absolutely adored it! I can’t wait to read it to my best friend’s twins soon!

I think elementary aged children would enjoy this collection of silly, imaginative poems along with its goofy illustrations. I didn’t read all of the poems, they were too silly and nonsensical for me personally, and I wasn’t a fan of the illustration style; but, I know I’m not the intended audience.
This collection wasn’t for me and isn’t something I would read with my own children.

2.5 stars to be honest.

The pros
Cute title
Great intensions
Fabulous illustrations

The negatives
I was bored - i read a lot of kids books so that says a lot.
It tried to be too clever
Too long and unwieldy

Thanks @netgalley for this.

I love the whole silly, happy and free-spirited vibe of these poems that are perfect for elementary readers ( and adults too )! I adore and greatly miss Shel Silverstein and was delighted to read his similar style of creativity and wit that Tony Philips brings to his poetry.

Kids will laugh and giggle and discover that each page offers them joy as they read through this collection of laugh-out-loud wordplays, puns, and humour! Some praise from advanced readers include:

"Pure mischief and shenanigans"
"Made me laugh out loud"

"Reminded me of how my brain worked when I was a kid"

"Original, comic, musical"

"An amazing gift of art, life lessons, and humor”

With wonderful endorsements like those above one wants to immediately acquire a copy to share with their children. This book should also land on classroom bookshelves and in elementary school libraries. The illustrations are simple but powerful. The book is highly entertaining and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This is a children's poetry book that runs the gamut from animals to adults and bodily noises to talking foods. Some of the poems were pretty funny, but some were just... too much. I know I am not the intended audience for this title, but I don't think any of my nieces and nephews (7 kids; ages 4-14) would genuinely enjoy this whole book. A few of them may like a couple of the poems, but probably wouldn't sit still and read more than a few at once.

Several of the poems do have a TON in common too. I got tired of poems about kids with crazy double names "Sandy Sedd" and "Oliver Grundy" etc etc etc. And of animals pretending to be other animals or wishing they were different animals. It got really repetitive.

My favorite poems were:
-The penguin who couldn't swim
-Watermelon seed
-The bestest animal in the world


Overall, I would recommend this if you have kid who is into silly poetry, but I would probably recommend several other poets before recommending this one.

This is such a cute anthology of children's poems. It's the perfect read for children at bed time, because you can read a few different poems each night, allowing them to have multiple stories, but only work through part of one book. They're short, and sweet, to keep their attention. The illustration is super simple, so if you're child is more of a visual kid, then this may not be for them. However, I loved the books like "Where the Sidewalk Ends" when I was a child, and if your kid does too, make sure to read this one to them.

A fun little book which my little one enjoyed reading with me this afternoon!

I think it would definitely appeal to younger kids as all the poems are relatable and full of wonderful rhyming couplets which means they can read them easily. A few of the poems weren't really my cup of tea but my daughter laughed out loud at, so I had to remind myself that I wasn't the intended audience!

Illustrations are simple, in black and white, and engaging enough to keep young children interested. All in all, a lovely little book of humorous poems which I'd be happy to buy for my own kids or gift to others.

What’s wrong with a pet Dino is a very cute book. I would have loved if there were more drawings but the book is pretty good. I am very inclined to buy this for my nieces and nephews.

This book reminded me so much of all the days I spent hours as a child reading Shel Silverstein!

The poems were incredibly cute and I found myself laughing out loud at the hidden jokes!

Just like with Shel Silverstein, one of the best parts is the artwork which were both simple but incredibly smart.

This book brought me back to memories of one of my favorite childhood books and it did it well!

Highly recommend for any middle grade reader!

This book of poetry would definitely be enjoyed by young readers! Each poem had a fun story, rhyming scheme, and illustration to go with it. The rhymes are sure to entertain kids. I liked that some of them tried to involve the readers, like saying something like "say it with me." Very entertaining and cute!

Major thanks to NetGalley, Idle Brains Publishing, and BooksGoSocial for this copy of What’s Wrong with a Pet Dinosaur? in exchange for an honest review. What’s Wrong with a Pet Dinosaur? is currently available for purchase.

This collection of poetry is so fun! It’s target demographic is elementary school-aged kids, but I think that anyone can enjoy it. The poems are light and humorous and playful and the accompanying art creates a world of zany characters that you can just lose your entire self in. (Also, everything rhymes! I miss reading poetry where everything rhymes; when my teachers told me that that wasn’t a requirement of poetry it changed my life forever)

Some of these poems are hilarious and make for great short stories, but there are a few are head-scratchers (to me, at least) too, with the occasional “I am not the target audience for this” thrown in for good measure. Overall, this collection has something for everyone and anyone can get a good laugh out of it.

If you’re interested, here are a few notable moments from my read:

1. I did not care for Santa’s diet poem
2. “Personal Sun,” bestie, that’s just climate change; you’re literally describing summer in NYC
3. “The Rabbit’s Spaghetti” — an interesting metaphor for hypocritical, preachy mf’ers; hopefully they’ll actually learn the lesson from this

Any book involving a dinosaur is an instant win in this house. My son very much enjoyed browsing the drawings in this one. We giggled lots reading these silly children's poems and he asked if we could buy it for his shelf. That’s a win in my book!! Five stars.