Niki Daly Books

An almost-scary, hilariously funny, totally original dinosaur book What if that rock under your bed is a dinosaur egg... and it hatches, Edward?" "Not under my bed!" Edward replies to his older brother as they settle down for the night. Edward's brother warns him that he'll have to love the baby dinosaur, that it will eat like a garbage truck, and that he'll have to change its diapers. Finally, as the full moon rises, Edward's brother says, "A big, crazy moon makes dinosaurs really mad... and then they go looking for little boys who steal dinosaur eggs". The surprise ending to the big-brother teasing makes a dramatic climax to a highly unusual and comical dinosaur story. Niki Daly's full-color illustrations graphically convey the building tension and the vivid imaginations of two small boys.

Charlie builds a house with cast-off materials in his South African township.

"It's hot, hot, hot." A small boy and his parents are at the beach where there are crowds of surfers and sailboarders and sunbathers. The boy doesn't much like the big waves. He holds hands with his parents for only one big one. Then he runs off to find some fun. He zips through the crowd, heading toward the lifeguard station high on a dune. Just below it is an old, abandoned boat, waiting for the boy to be its brave captain. And brave he is, fending off sharks and storms. But all of a sudden, with the dunes rising like big waves around him, he realizes he is lost and all alone. "Mommy Daddy " he cries. With the help of a lifeguard who comes to his rescue, all ends well. Full of gentle humor and illustrated with exuberant watercolor paintings, this is a reassuring story Niki Daly, the creator of Not So Fast, Songololo and Papa Lucky's Shadow, has here conjured up all the pleasures of a summer day at the beach that no one, young or old, will be able to resist.

Maybe it's a Tiger (Picturemacs) [May 26, 1983] Hersom, Kathleen