Making Grizzle Grow

The wonders of a child's imagination.

When Dad doesn't have time to play in the snow with her, Emily is annoyed. Then she becomes so mad that she makes a snow dinosaur and calls it Grizzle. Grizzle comes alive, and she is a Dilophosaurus with a temper to match Emily's. And Grizzle is hungry - so hungry that Emily rustles up some snow pizzas with lots of pepperoni. Then Grizzle begins to grow and as Emily makes more and more meals out of the backyard snow Grizzle snaps it all up and growls for more. She is really hungry! At last Grizzle turns her attention to Dad, who has wandered outside to admire Emily's handiwork. If Emily doesn't do something fast, Dad will make an excellent snack!

An imaginative and endearing story about what happens when your temper gets the better of you, Making Grizzle Grow is also about real love - the kind that doesn't disappear just because you get mad. A great book for lovers of dinosaurs and fun in the snow.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3- Emily is angry when her dad tells her he can't help her build snow animals until later, and she vents her feelings by building an angry snow dinosaur. Grizzle demands more and more snow "food"-pizzas, hot dogs, roast turkey, piles of pork chops-and grows from a small Dilophosaurus to an Allosaurus, and finally to a giant, furious T. rex. When Emily's father finally comes out to play, Grizzle turns on him, seeing lunch. Emily throws herself on the creature, smashing it and "saving" her father. Watts's serviceable illustrations are flat and colorful, but the story is best when Gilmore employs her keen eye for detail; for instance, when Emily's dad faces Grizzle, Emily observes: "Dad's awfully small compared to Grizzle. And his shirt isn't tucked in, so his belly shows. I know he can't run in those slippers." The story will make a good discussion starter about the consuming power of anger.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD

Rachna Gilmore is the award-winning author of over a dozen titles for children of all ages, including The Sower of Tales, A Screaming Kind of Day, Mina's Spring of Colors and A Group of One. She has won the Governor General's Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor, and her work has appeared on the New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age List. Most recently, The Sower of Tales won the National Chapter IODE Violet Downey Book Award.

Leslie Elizabeth Watts is a writer and fine artist who has illustrated over ten picture books for children, including The Baabaasheep Quartet, The Most Beautiful Kite in the World, and Princess Stinkytoes and the Brave Frog Robert, which she also wrote. She has won the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrators_ Award, and the Shining Willow Award among others. Born in Weston, Ontario, Leslie now lives in Stratford, Ontario.