Tyrannosaurus Veg: The carrot-crunching dinosaur

This is the story of a T-rex with a difference – he doesn’t share the expected fondness for meat that his friends do. In many other ways he is an exemplary beast: stomping, roaring, gnashing and running, yet his friends can’t get over his penchant for fruit and veg and, in expressing their curiosity, they drive Reginald away from home.

Whilst searching for kindred spirits from a dietary perspective, Reginald overlooks that in every other sense he is very much a T-Rex and so, as he approaches a herd of herbivores, they predictably run away. Fortunately Reginald’s despondency is short lived as, having missed him so much and realised the error of their ways, his T-Rex friends have gone in search of him.

At this point the story takes an unexpected twist when the friends are faced with peril as the clifftop begins to sharply descend upon them. Of course, our vegetable eating protagonist is ready to step into the frame just in time to save the day! Satisfied that Reginald is both brave and strong, and a vegetarian, the clan travel home to cook up a vegetable-based feast fit for a king…or indeed a T-Rex!

This tale is a cautionary one and allows for much discussion around the nature of friendship. How this can’t be conditional, how this should not be influenced by needing to share all the same preferences, how we are often stronger when we use each other’s differences. There are some aspects which are less developed than others – for instance we are shown Reg having a tough time at school and then suddenly he is leaving home without further discussion; we see no ‘older’ T-Rex’s to act as a voice of reason. Similarly there is a really strong use of rhyme throughout which is very effective, and so the sudden disconnection from this structure for a verse when Reginald is heaving the boulder seems to stand out. Despite this, the text has many more advantages than drawbacks. It would make a lovely story to sit alongside examples such as Bear Hunt when children are exploring sound effects for the first time and describing journeys; it would work equally well for KS1 classes exploring food topics and especially fruit and veg; it could simply sit as an empathy text on classroom shelves for all those pupils who are struggling to embrace their individuality. This, along with the colourful and engaging illustrations throughout, are sure to make it a popular choice in school and library collections.