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.
"The visual elements of the book suit this defiant humour. . . Leslie Watts's illustrations are pleasing in the way they flesh out the text's sketchier details."
— Quill & Quire
"(Readers) will have been nicely caught up in this well told and convincingly illustrated drama."
— Toronto Globe & Mail
"The critter's increasing size (and the increasing size of the text each time it roars "More!") has a delicious sense of menace. What audiences will most relate to are Emily's angry disappointment in her too-busy parent and the resulting personification of that anger, which is effective, funny, and just a little scary."
— Booklist
"Written with humor and creativity, Gilmore's story dramatizes the tenderness of a parent/child relationship. . . Watts's artwork illuminates an already luminous story. Each spread is painted in bright, gleaming colors, featuring rosy-cheeked Emily and her fantastical dinosaurs with a backdrop of glistening white snow. Moving with the ebb and flow of her anger, Emily's imagination soars, revealing the vulnerability of love and offering a make-believe depiction of the real emotional life of children."
— Kirkus Reviews
Leslie Elizabeth Watts is a writer and fine artist who has illustrated over ten picture books for children, including The Baabaasheep Quartet, The Most Beautiful Kite in the World, and Princess Stinkytoes and the Brave Frog Robert, which she also wrote. She has won the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrators' Award, and the Shining Willow Award among others. Born in Weston, Ontario, Leslie now lives in Stratford, Ontario.
Shining Willow Award Nominee 2009
Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2009
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