Don't Forget Dexter by Lindsay Ward. Unpgd. Two Lions/ Amazon Publishing, January, 2018. 9781542047272. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publicist, Blue Slip Media.)
Dexter the T-Rexter is big and strong and has a best friend named Jack who takes him everywhere, even the doctor's office. Poor Dexter is not-so-tough as he freaks out when he realizes that he's been left behind! One minute he was happily coloring and the next moment, he looked up and Jack was gone! His amusing stream-of-consciousness is successively anxious/ obnoxious as he works himself up into a full-blown panic attack/ tantrum. Perhaps Jack has found himself a new toy to like? The horror!
The palette of the ink, color pencil and cut paper illustrations veer a bit to pastels with Dexter featured in brilliant orange tones. Don't skip the dedication/ copyright pages because the story starts there. This story of a lost and found object will resonate with both parents and children who have lost and found/ not found a beloved toy or comfort object. The fact that the story is told from the POV of the toy, which perfectly mirrors the behavior a human child would exhibit in the same situation is comic genius.
According to the jacket flap, the story was inspired by the author's husband who took a picture of a left-behind toy in a doctor's office and captioned it, "Well, they left me here." Dexter is endearingly anxious and Don't Forget Dexter is the first in a possible series, with It's Show and Tell, Dexter! due to publish July 17 according to the author's website. I recommend that you start from the home page as this site is particularly well-designed. There will be activities linked to the Don't Forget Dexter page soon.
Don't miss Don't Forget Dexter!
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