Am I Yours? by Alex Latimer

Am I Yours? by Alex Latimer
Review Copy from Peachtree Publishing
With wonderfully rhyming text, Latimer delivers fantastic dinosaurs and a super story that kids will love. Am I Yours? also works as the perfect starter for one of my favorite conversations to have with little kids, "What hatches from an egg?" (best answer to date: elephant). Latimer's illustrations, including excellent endpapers arrayed with dinosaurs and their names, are colorful and a bit collage-y, adding pattern and texture to this prehistoric world.
Am I Yours? begins with drama and excitement,

Two hundred million years ago
an icy wind began to blow.
It blew great clouds form east to west
and pushed an egg out of a nest.
 As a series of dinosaurs wanders by, the egg calls out the repeated refrain, "Excuse me, please, / but am I yours? / I'm sure I am / a dinosaur's!" Each passing dinosaur asks the inhabitant of the egg to describe herself/himself, checking to see if they have matching features, ranging from spikes on the spine, to a long neck, horns, a crest and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Sadly, the egg can find no matching dinosaur.
As the day draws to an end, a storm approaches and the egg begins to cry, knowing s/he will not make it through the night alone. When the setting sun shines on the egg, showing a "perfect silhouette," the dinosaurs know exactly what to do, assuring a happy - and sweet - ending.

Am I Yours? is definitely a winner that kids will want to hear again and again. 






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