PreS-Gr 1-A droll narrator gives clear instructions for hosting a successful tea party. Meanwhile the colored-pencil illustrations show a gathering teetering on disaster with every page turn as the guest of honor is none other than an enormous Tyrannosaurus rex. The soft pastel hues and rounded shapes keep this dinosaur more large and bumbling than fierce or scary, but the child's teddy bear suffers a few close calls. Etiquette advice focuses on putting guests at ease: "It's good to have extra cups and napkins on hand. as accidents can happen. But a good host meets these little challenges with a cheerful smile.," and all of the guests survive unharmed, if rather rumpled, and delighted with the return invitation from the dinosaur. The tension between the text and illustrations provides much to amuse the youngest tea-party hosts.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Children know how dinosaurs say goodnight, but what's the drill when one of them comes to tea? Idle (Flora and the Flamingo) explains it all, mining the comic chasm between a briskly genteel narrator and a fanciful reality. "When hosting an afternoon tea for a special friend-greet your guest at the door," she instructs, as a girl and her younger brother, dressed in their Sunday best, welcome a huge green tyrannosaurus (its belly fills the doorframe while its beady, eager eyes peer through a half-circle window at the top). This isn't going to be easy, but the creature is game, settling its humongous bottom onto an alarmingly petite chair and pouring with gusto, if not grace. The dainty, uniformly light colors, coupled with the dinosaur's velveteenlike texture, can make some of the story's many funny moments a bit difficult to discern at first glance. But Idle has a gift for comic composition, and her precise pencil linework and tidy borders exude a sense of authority and propriety worthy of Miss Manners, imposing order and decorum on the increasingly chaotic scenes. Ages 3-5. Agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Some kids like tea parties, others like dinosaurs, and never the twain shall meet until now? Idle cleverly constructs her picture book as a Miss Manners-style primer on how to throw a delightfully proper tea party, and the prose's stiff upper lip never falters no matter the monster-sized faux pas occurring within the illustrations. After greeting a guest at the door, Lead him through to the parlor. (Illustration: siblings straining to pull a giant green dinosaur through a human-sized door.) Next: Offer him a comfortable chair. (Illustration: a dainty pink chair nearly crushed beneath a behemoth rear end.) And on it goes with the dino wreaking havoc upon each highly civilized instance of small talk or cake serving. The cuddly yet giddily preposterous pencil art has the still-life absurdity of Chris Van Allsburg, with characters always frozen in the throes of some larger-than-life struggle against their well-meaning but deadpan dinosaur friend. A fine example of how words and pictures can lock horns to charming effect.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist

Opening with a polite hand-written invitation, the story reads as an ultra-proper etiquette guide to hosting a tea party ("Take turns making small talk"; "cater to the individual tastes of your guest"). Hilariously, the illustrations show the real story as Cordelia's honored guest is a T. rex whose enormity, terrible manners, and messiness make the dainty tea party a ruckus. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Emily Post herself could not come up with a more proper set of guidelines for entertaining a visitor from the Cretaceous. Except for opening and closing invitations, the text is made up entirely of words of sage advice, while the illustrations tell the riotous story. Cordelia and her teddy-clutching younger brother host a polite, if not entirely trained, T-Rex at their tea party. At first, things go well, with the toothy guest shaking hands all around and devouring cakes and treats. The party quickly disintegrates, however, when the hostess' hat proves to be the only possible adequate teacup, the teddy barely escapes several dire fates, and some raucous dancing leads to a busted home. Fortunately--and properly--the T-Rex makes sure to return the invite, and our young heroes party with all their favorite dinos. Idle makes full use of the ironic juxtaposition of meat-eater against tea etiquette, mining the humor of it for all it's worth. Created by surprisingly bright colored pencils, each scene glows. Idle's smallest details are where the true pleasure lies, as when the hostess bores her guests with talk of begonias, and the T-Rex surreptitiously checks the watch on his tiny little wrist. Sure to be enjoyed by tea-party enthusiasts, and even dino fans with no use for a teapot will find themselves drawn to this clever tale of a not-entirely-civilized beast of the past. (Picture book. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.