Review Detail

What I Loved:

Samanthasaurus Rex is an adorable picture book featuring a family of T-rexes. Samanthasaurus doesn’t enjoy doing typical T-rex activities, such as chasing animals and gnawing on bones, like the rest of her family does. Instead, she prefers to get creative, invent, and discover.

This book is perfect for young kids who feel like they don’t fit in, or feel like they enjoy activities that no one else does. While Samanthasaurus’s family questions her ‘strange’ behavior, their family is clearly one of love and support, encouraging readers that being different is okay. Perhaps most importantly, Samanthasaurus’s happiness is clear throughout the entire story. She is confident about what she loves, and the illustrations highlight her joy.

What Left Me Wanting More:

While the story itself shows great support for young girls in terms of promoting positivity and equality, the color designs for the T-rexes enforce traditional gender norms as the female T-rexes, Samanthasaurus and her mom, are primarily pink and the male T-rexes, the father and brother, are primarily blue. However, the illustrations overall are still adorable and feature beautiful backgrounds and funny expressions.

Final Verdict:

While the colors of the T-rexes could have been a bit less traditional, Samanthasaurus Rex is an overall positive and fun story about a young T-rex who celebrates her uniqueness, even when others don’t understand it.