Author & Illustrator: Jason Sandberg
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: June 2012
Genre: Children’s Picture Book (ages 4-8)
Pages: 32
Book Description: This is the sweet and funny tale of a young girl named Candy and a Cankersaurus Rex! Candy receives a dinosaur as a gift and is determined to train him to be a good pet.
Unlike the other two nerds (The Big Nerd, and the Small Nerd), I am not secretly five years old. However, I do have several nieces and nephews who are appropriately aged for this book. I thought that the illustrations were just darling and like Scatty, I enjoyed that there was a space for text (so it didn’t look all messy).
Storywise, I enjoyed myself. I particularly liked the fact that the protagonist was a little girl and she got a dinosaur. Yes, girls can be strong willed and own dinosaurs. And it seemed so cute that she doesn’t fear something that could probably eat her if he could bite a tree in half. It nicely reflects childlike innocence and wonder and I loved that. I liked their adventure, it seemed fun but had deep issues that kids deal with at this age – loneliness, jealousy, and unsure how to make friends. Also, i kind of wished it had more of a resolution (THE DAD NEEDS TO MAKE TIME FOR CANDY TOO!!).
Overall I really liked the book and it would definitely be something that I would give to my nieces and nephews. The only downside is I wish I could get a physical copy of this book (as well as his other ones!!) so I could give them as gifts to the little ones.
Overall: ★★★★★