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Making Grizzle Grow
Blue Spruce Award Nominee 2009Shining Willow Award Nominee 2009
Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2009
"The wonders of a child's imagination.
When Dad doesn't have time to play in the snow with her, Emily is annoyed. Then she becomes so mad that she makes a snow dinosaur and calls it Grizzle. Grizzle comes alive, and she is a Dilophosaurus with a temper to match Emily's. And Grizzle is hungry - so hungry that Emily rustles up some snow pizzas with lots of pepperoni. Then Grizzle begins to grow and as Emily makes more and more meals out of the backyard snow Grizzle snaps it all up and growls for more. She is really hungry! At last Grizzle turns her attention to Dad, who has wandered outside to admire Emily's handiwork. If Emily doesn't do something fast, Dad will make an excellent snack!
An imaginative and endearing story about what happens when your temper gets the better of you, "Making Grizzle Grow" is also about real love - the kind that doesn't disappear just because you get mad. A great book for lovers of dinosaurs and fun in the snow.
Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2009
"The wonders of a child's imagination.
When Dad doesn't have time to play in the snow with her, Emily is annoyed. Then she becomes so mad that she makes a snow dinosaur and calls it Grizzle. Grizzle comes alive, and she is a Dilophosaurus with a temper to match Emily's. And Grizzle is hungry - so hungry that Emily rustles up some snow pizzas with lots of pepperoni. Then Grizzle begins to grow and as Emily makes more and more meals out of the backyard snow Grizzle snaps it all up and growls for more. She is really hungry! At last Grizzle turns her attention to Dad, who has wandered outside to admire Emily's handiwork. If Emily doesn't do something fast, Dad will make an excellent snack!
An imaginative and endearing story about what happens when your temper gets the better of you, "Making Grizzle Grow" is also about real love - the kind that doesn't disappear just because you get mad. A great book for lovers of dinosaurs and fun in the snow.
- GenresPicture BooksDinosaurs
32 pages, Hardcover
First published November 6, 2007
About the author
Rachna Gilmore
25 books18 followersRachna Gilmore is the best-selling, critically acclaimed Governor General’s Award winning author of numerous books with multiple honours and awards. Her publications include picture books, early readers, middle grade and young adult novels, as well as adult fiction.
Rachna’s books are sold internationally with translations in French, Danish, German, Korean, Spanish, Urdu, Bengali, Chinese as well as several other languages. A skilled and experienced presenter, Rachna gives inumerable readings and workshops in schools, libraries and conferences across the country as well as internationally.
Born in India, Rachna has lived in London, England and Prince Edward Island. She now lives in Ottawa where she continues to plark (play, work, lark) at dreaming up weird and wonder-filled tales.
http://www.rachnagilmore.ca/bio.html
Rachna’s books are sold internationally with translations in French, Danish, German, Korean, Spanish, Urdu, Bengali, Chinese as well as several other languages. A skilled and experienced presenter, Rachna gives inumerable readings and workshops in schools, libraries and conferences across the country as well as internationally.
Born in India, Rachna has lived in London, England and Prince Edward Island. She now lives in Ottawa where she continues to plark (play, work, lark) at dreaming up weird and wonder-filled tales.
http://www.rachnagilmore.ca/bio.html
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 9, 2022
When her father must complete a project, and can't play outside with her, young Emily is hurt and angry, storming out to the backyard and creating a snow dinosaur that she names Grizzle. Originally a Dilophosaurus, Grizzle grows and grows, as Emily continues to 'feed' her, becoming a Megalosaurus, then an Allosaurus, and finally, a Tyrannosaurus Rex. As an expression of Emily's anger, Grizzle is more than a little frightening, especially when her father finally joins her, and Grizzle turns on him! Luckily, Emily is standing by, and manages to tackled Grizzle to the ground (and back into snow) before any damage is done...
Making Grizzle Grow is another creative picture-book examination of the child-parent bond from Canadian children's author Rachna Gilmore, whose When I Was A Little Girl dealt with a young girl and her mother, and the problematic nature of comparisons. Here we have a young girl and her father, and the resolution of some feelings of disappointment and resentment, when the father cannot immediately join Emily in her outdoor play. I liked the way in which Grizzle represents Emily anger - continually growing as Emily feeds it - and the ambiguous way in which the imaginary (is Emily feeding Grizzle actual food?) and the real (or is Emily building her snow dinosaur bigger and bigger with actual snow?) meet up in this story. The resolution, in which Emily 'saves' her father from Grizzle, felt a little contrived to me, but was satisfyingly happy, for all that, and the illustrations by Leslie Elizabeth Watts were colorful and appealing. All in all, a fun 'family story' for young readers, one I would recommend to children who have felt irritated with their parents, from time to time. Which is most children, I imagine...
Making Grizzle Grow is another creative picture-book examination of the child-parent bond from Canadian children's author Rachna Gilmore, whose When I Was A Little Girl dealt with a young girl and her mother, and the problematic nature of comparisons. Here we have a young girl and her father, and the resolution of some feelings of disappointment and resentment, when the father cannot immediately join Emily in her outdoor play. I liked the way in which Grizzle represents Emily anger - continually growing as Emily feeds it - and the ambiguous way in which the imaginary (is Emily feeding Grizzle actual food?) and the real (or is Emily building her snow dinosaur bigger and bigger with actual snow?) meet up in this story. The resolution, in which Emily 'saves' her father from Grizzle, felt a little contrived to me, but was satisfyingly happy, for all that, and the illustrations by Leslie Elizabeth Watts were colorful and appealing. All in all, a fun 'family story' for young readers, one I would recommend to children who have felt irritated with their parents, from time to time. Which is most children, I imagine...
July 29, 2011
This book is an excellent read-aloud about a little girl who resents her father being too busy to play with her in the snow. She builds an extremely hungry snow-dinosaur who takes her anger and gets bigger and bigger, until she must save her father from this ferocious beast. The artwork is precise and the emotions are conveyed realistically on the characters faces.
February 8, 2016
Emily is a little put out and sulky when her father has to work instead of making snow animals with her. She focuses her anger on making a huge snow dinosaur that grows and grows and she feeds it more snow food. But in the end, it gets out of hand and she crushes it to save her father from being eaten.
Cute illustrations.
Cute illustrations.
June 14, 2010
Cute idea! Love the sense of imagination and how the dad comes around in the end. I enjoyed the dino aspect ... clever! It is amazing how much power hot chocolate holds.
August 10, 2012
I like the premise but feel it lacked something when translated from concept to book.
September 18, 2012
Book about a little girl who builds wild creatures in the snow, by using her imagination.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews