Digger Dog

When Digger Dog gets the scent of "something BIG" underground, he first grabs his trusty shovel, then a compact digging machine...then an excavator...etc. The surprise: the bone belongs to a gigantic dinosaur skeleton. Bee's text is great fun to read aloud; the repetition will encourage audience participation. Johansson's genial illustrations feature colorful polka-dot embellishments, good use of white space, and several foldouts.

When Digger Dog gets the scent of "something BIG" underground, he grabs his trusty shovel and sets to work. "But the ground is too hard and the bone is too deep," so he trades up for a compact digging machine…then an excavator…then a backhoe…until, finally, he rolls out "the biggest digger in the…WHOLE WORLD!" A sign instructs readers to lift up the double-page spread for a foldout revealing a mega-big excavator with Digger Dog at the controls. The massive machine digs and digs, and after "a lot of rumbling and shaking" and a horizontal foldout page, Digger Dog unearths "the world's…biggest bone!" But it's not over until the final double-page fold-down surprise, which shows listeners what Digger and his two companions can't see: the bone belongs to a gigantic still-buried dinosaur skeleton. Bee's text is great fun to read aloud; the repetition will encourage audience participation. Johansson's genial illustrations feature lots of colorful polka-dot embellishments, primarily on the ground and in the piles of dirt; good use of white space in the compositions prevents the dots from becoming distracting. Digging in dirt, an exciting parade of construction equipment, and dinosaur bones -- this is a storytime trifecta. kitty flynn