Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
When Dinosaurs Came with Everything
Elise Broach · 2019
88/100
👍 Worth It
The premise is absurd perfection — a free dinosaur with every purchase — and David Small's loose, expressive art milks every drop of comic contrast between the boy's glee and his mother's mounting panic. Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Time, and the ALA all agree, and they are right: this is one of the funniest picture books of its decade. It is essentially one long joke, but the joke is executed brilliantly.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
📚 Buy the book ↗📱 Read on Kindle ↗🎧 Listen on Audible ↗ affiliate links · support the site, never the verdict
As an Amazon Associate and Audible affiliate, Penny earns from qualifying purchases. This never affects the verdict — see our affiliate disclosure.
Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety99
substance80
craft92
originality90
accuracy88
hype85
age-fit92
human-eye92
Penny’s verdict88
Cross-pollinate