DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997               TAG: 9704220057

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Book Review

SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   34 lines

TALE OF KNITTING DINOSAUR IS CLEVER, FUN

DEREK KNITS. He's a dinosaur and he knits.

In an adorable picture book with wonderfully witty illustrations by Kerry Argent, writer Mary Blackwood tells the story of little Derek and his talent for creating sweaters, socks, scarves - anything warm and toasty.

And that's how this book will leave children: Cozy and assured by the notion that everybody has something to offer the world no matter how different from everyone else they feel.

In clever rhyme, we find out that Derek is a small dinosaur, ``little and green,'' who feels somewhat inferior to his bigger brothers, Fang and Fearless. He wonders if he, too, should cultivate a big roar and a mean look, but he finally gives in to this passion for knitting and settles down with his tiny confidant, Montmorency, the mouse.

Derek and his pal live in a stone house, soon packed to the gills with clawmade clothes.

Meanwhile, outside, the weather is changing. It gets chilly, and before too long, Fang and Fearless show up at Derek's snowy doorstep with runny noses and their teeth rattling in their enormous heads.

Derek makes cups of tea - served with dinosaur-shaped cookies of course - and saves the day with his inventory of woolen wear.

``Derek the Knitting Dinosaur'(Carolrhoda Books) is a book to check out of the library again and again. With a perceptive youngster, it could lead to a discussion about habitat and climate and dinosaurs becoming extinct. But if that doesn't happen, the poetry alone is worth it, and Argent's comical illustrations add to the fun.

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