Now that the cat’s out of the bag—or rather the dinosaur and (all right already!) reptile—more complications are certainly...
Just as hatchling dino Peanut is becoming an internet celebrity, another prehistoric creature surfaces in the local river.
Following the events of Too Big to Hide (2015), young Frank attempts to escape the newshounds gathering at his grandparents’ Wyoming fossil preserve by sneaking off with his puppylike charge to look for the elusive Nothosaurus his father claims to have seen as a lad. He finds it almost immediately when the riverine reptile—don’t call it a “dinosaur,” at least in Frank’s hearing—readily comes to Peanut’s call. Worse yet, once the Notho, dubbed Goldie, mistakes a junior fishing competition for a free feed, how are Frank and his family going to keep the two living fossils out of the clutches of the officials and other grown-ups rushing to capture them? Punctuated by frequent cartoon illustrations (final art not seen), McAnulty’s tale flows rapidly along to a triumphant climactic face-off, to be followed, no doubt, by further adventures. Frank and his family are white.
Now that the cat’s out of the bag—or rather the dinosaur and (all right already!) reptile—more complications are certainly on the way. (dino-glossary) (Science fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-553-52197-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
This uninspired offering fails to compete well with other fantasies for young readers.
Exploring the wide world, pixies get into a bundle of troubles in this outing for readers already successfully into chapter books.
In this first of a series previously published in the UK, Titch and Mitch are pixie brothers, Titch the eldest by a year and a bit the braver of the pair. They pack up a little food and head off on a series of adventures that take them away from the safe haven of Pixie Valley and out into the human world where they are kidnapped by a schoolboy, then escape on a boat that crashes on an island. There they are befriended by a series of talking animals and rescue a fairy caught in a shrub. She provides them with a magical flying bicycle that they use to visit her, provide some dental services to a mouse-sized dragon and rescue a very smart turkey. Numerous detailed black-and-white sketches accompany these brief episodes and nicely break up text-heavy pages. Character development is nearly nonexistent, and while the brief adventures provide a mild amount of excitement, their superficiality sharply limits the potential impact. Magical elements seem flat and unimaginative. There is no conclusion, merely an abrupt end, where the next tale will presumably begin.
This uninspired offering fails to compete well with other fantasies for young readers. (Fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9567449-5-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Inside Pocket
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Eye-brightening visuals in search of a better text.
A mishmash of prehistoric fact and fancy, well overmatched by illustrations featuring images of full-sized dinos that look just as real as the photographed children who pose around or on them.
With a similar premise to Bernard Most’s classic If the Dinosaurs Came Back (1978) but without even its loose brand of internal logic, the author introduces 26 dinosaurs by name and suggests a supposed occupation or consequence. These often appear to be entirely arbitrary: “If a Tarbosaurus lived in my town… / …he and his cousin, Tyrannosaurus Rex, could have a hamburger eating contest!” In frequently clumsy phrasing (Corythosaurus “had hundreds of little teeth inside of her cheeks to chew with”), added dinosaur “Factprints” on each spread offer mixes of “facts” that sometimes contradict fossil evidence, as with a claim that Liopleurodon was larger than the blue whale. Others are just pure speculation: Maiasaura “would be very gentle with tiny human children” and Parasaurolophus calls “sounded like notes played on a French horn, or even a deep-throated trombone or bassoon.” On the other hand, though many bear human expressions, Eggleton’s dinosaurs are both realistically detailed and convincingly integrated into playgrounds and other familiar modern settings. The most recent reference in the bibliography is dated 2006, and one is as old as 1988.
Eye-brightening visuals in search of a better text. (index, not seen) (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62636-176-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
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