Rain! Rain! Rain! The kids at school are bored…until Jimmy dreams up a game for them to play. He’ll start a story and pass it on to Ava, who will pass it on to Susan. The story will travel around the classroom until all the kids have a chance to add to the story. So, Jimmy starts: “ Last Saturday, I was eating breakfast, when all of a sudden a tyrannosaurus came crashing through the window. And then what happens? ” S.D. Schindler’s delightful watercolor illustrations provide delicious details as twelve children and a tyrannosaurus romp through the pages. Kindergarten-Grade 1—On a rainy day, 12 children sit in a circle in their classroom to make up a story. Jimmy begins by telling how a tyrannosaurus crashed through the window of his house while he was eating breakfast Saturday morning. On successive spreads, each child adds to the story with a sentence or two that sends the hapless dinosaur on a chaotic chase onto a bus, through a playground, onto some amusement-park rides, and eventually coming to a stop in a topiary garden where the children try to hide him from the cops. Schindler does his best to add some excitement to the stilted narrative by drawing the tyrannosaurus as a huge, mean-looking beast thrust into absurd situations surrounded by an increasing mob of kids. Although the story could have some merit as an example of a familiar type of storytelling game, the adventure itself is rather pointless and the ending is too abrupt. This picture book does not live up to its promising title.— Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. On a rainy day, a classroom’s 12 students pass the time by telling a progressive story about imaginary adventures with a dinosaur. Jimmy begins the story on a Saturday, when all of a sudden during breakfast, “a tyrannosaurus came crashing through the window.” Each of Jimmy’s multicultural classmates continues the plot with a simple and short addendum. Their ideas range from the silliness of a dinosaur on a seesaw to straightforward sentences that just move things along: “I was on a swing . . . and then I jumped off and ran.” Most of the interest is generated by the ink, gouache, and watercolor illustrations, which provide details of the town’s destruction described in the story after the T. rex gets loose. Stronger in concept than in execution, this offering nevertheless ends on a winning note with a final visual scene in which the kids cleverly hide the dinosaur from the police, who are hot on their trail. Teachers may want to use this to initiate some collaborative, rainy-day storytelling in their own classrooms. Grades K-2. --Andrew Medlar The late Steven Kroll wrote many popular children’s books, including The Biggest Pumpkin Ever , Jungle Bullies , Super-Dragon , The Tyrannosaurus Game , and Stuff! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (Honorable Mention, Green Book Festival 2009). He lived in New York City and Bucks County, Pennsylvania. S.D. Schindler has illustrated holiday stories ( The Runaway Pumpkin , One Witch , How Santa Lost His Job ), biographies ( Home on the Range: John A. Lomax and His Cowboy Songs , Johnny Appleseed ), science ( Boy, Were We Wrong about Dinosaurs! ), and many other subjects that demonstrate his versatility and artistic skill. He and his wife live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Used Book in Good Condition