bookshelf

RAPTOR

Name: RAPTOR
Author: Michel Henry
ISBN: 0-8109-5775-2

THE LIFE OF A YOUNG DEINONYCHUS

by Michel Henry & illustrated by Rich Penney ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2007

bookshelf

Featuring both luridly colored beasts in melodramatic poses and plenty of savagely rent flesh, these prehistoric scenes will rivet young dinosaur fans. The plot—briefly told and perfunctory—follows a young predator as he squabbles with others of his kind, mates and then minds a clutch of hatchlings, claws away at prey both living and already dead, flees a fire and finally, successfully battles a rival for leadership of the pack. It’s the pictures of taloned (male—the females are plainer) raptors sporting turquoise feathers and bright red crowns hunting, fighting and fleeing that jump out. Though both text and paintings are subject to unusually severe breaks in continuity, this crowd-pleaser incorporates recent theories about what dinosaurs looked and acted like, along with plenty of action. (map, booklist, artist’s note) (Nonfiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: April 1, 2007

ISBN: 0-8109-5775-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES

bookshelf

THE CHRISTMASAURUS

by Tom Fletcher ; illustrated by Shane Devries ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 2018

Reads like a grown-up’s over-the-top effort to peddle a set of kid-friendly premises—a notion that worked for the author’s...

bookshelf

A boy asks Santa for a dinosaur and gets a life-changing experience.

Cribbing freely from any number of classic Christmas stories and films, musician/vlogger Fletcher places his 10-year-old protagonist, William, who uses a wheelchair, at the head of an all-white human cast that features his widowed dad, a girl bully, and a maniacal hunter—plus a dinosaur newly hatched from an egg discovered in the North Pole’s ice by Santa’s elves. Having stowed away on Santa’s sleigh, Christmasaurus meets and bonds with William on Christmas Eve, then, fueled by the power of a child’s belief, flies the lad to the North Pole (“It’s somewhere between Imagination and Make-Believe”) for a meeting with the jolly toymaker himself. Upon his return William gets to see the hunter (who turns out to be his uncle) gun down his dad (who survives), blast a plush dinosaur toy to bits, and then with a poster-sized “CRUNCH! GULP!” go down Christmasaurus’ hatch. In the meantime (emphasis on “mean”), after William spots his previously vicious tormenter, Brenda Payne, crying in the bushes, he forgives trespasses that in real life would have had her arrested and confined long ago. Seemingly just for laffs, the author tosses in doggerel-speaking elves (“ ‘If it’s a girl, can we call her Ginny?’ / ‘I think it’s a boy! Look, he’s got a thingy!’ ”) and closes with further lyrics and a list of 10 (secular) things to love about Christmas. Devries adds sugary illustrations or spot art to nearly every spread.

Reads like a grown-up’s over-the-top effort to peddle a set of kid-friendly premises—a notion that worked for the author’s The Dinosaur That Pooped a Planet (2017), but not here. (Fantasy. 9-11)

Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5247-7330-4

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
THERE'S A BEAR IN YOUR BOOK
by Tom Fletcher ; illustrated by Tom Fletcher

- BOOK REVIEW
THERE'S A UNICORN IN YOUR BOOK
by Tom Fletcher ; illustrated by Greg Abbott

- BOOK REVIEW
THERE'S A WITCH IN YOUR BOOK
by Tom Fletcher ; illustrated by Greg Abbott

bookshelf

SAMMY AND THE DINOSAURS

by Ian Whybrow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999

bookshelf

The utterly winsome Sammy (and his crabby, TV-narcotized sister) is featured in a fine little story from Whybrow (The Snow King, p. 806, etc.) about the pleasures of friends who happen to be of a different species. Up in the attic with his grandmother, Sammy comes across a box full of old dinosaur toys. He shuttles the box downstairs, doctors the dinosaurs that need doctoring, bathes and buffs them all, and then, next day, trundles to the library to discover their names. While this is going on, captured in handsome pen-and-wash artwork, the beasts shuffle about, but only to Sammy’s knowledge. When every one of them is properly bestowed with a name—anchisaurus, brontosaurus, scelidosaurus, etc.—the dinosaurs say, ‘’ ‘Thank you, Sammy.’ They said it very quietly, but just loud enough for Sammy to hear.” Now fast friends, they nonetheless become separated when Sammy inadvertently leaves them on the train. Sammy is deeply unhappy; he inquires after them at the station, but the “Lost and Found” man says, “How do we know they are your dinosaurs?” A blind-identification test confirms that fact: ‘’ ‘All correct!’ said the man. ‘These are definitely your dinosaurs! Definitely!’ ‘’ Quietly, the dinosaurs concur: ‘’ ‘You’re definitely our Sammy. Definitely!’ ‘’ This is a beautiful, cheering story full of offbeat charm. (Picture book. 3-6)