Dinoverse

March 1, 1999
Dinotopia fans hungry for more Mesozoic adventure will happily devour this time-travel saga featuring four junior high school students. It all begins at the science fair when whiz kid Bertram's M.I.N.D. (Memory INterpreter Device) Machine zaps him and three classmates (graffiti artist Janine, pretty but vicious Candayce and football player Mike) back 67 million years. After being knocked unconscious, the students awake to find themselves transformed into a motley crew of prehistoric beasts. The serious problem of finding a way to return to the 1990's is lightened considerably by the teens' comic attempts to adjust to their new forms. Bertram, now an Ankylosaurus, is plagued with a chronic farting problem. Candayce is, ironically, turned into a Leptoceratops ("What had happened to her?" she asks herself. "Her thighs were enormous! And she had a pot belly!") The meat of the drama, however, has mostly to do with the foursome's development of survival skills--finding food, warding off enemies and escaping natural disaster--and their private journeys to discover who they really are on the "inside." Although scientific facts about the era are woven into the plot a little too self-consciously, Ciencin's (Godzilla: Journey to Monster Island) enticing blend of humor, adolescent angst and crisis-a-chapter excitement may hook even reluctant readers. Final artwork not seen by PW. Ages 10-up.

April 1, 1999
Gr 5-8-Four seventh graders bond and blossom in this novel with a twist. When nerdy Bertram's electronic science project goes haywire, he and three classmates-hunky Mike, rebellious Janine, and catty beauty-queen Candayce-wake up in the Cretaceous Era as, respectively, a tanklike Ankylosaurus, a Tyrannosaurus, a Quetzalcoatlus, and a thunder-thighed Leptoceratops. Thanks to a message sent back through time by their science teacher, they know that to get back they must reach a certain hilltop hundreds of miles away-so off they stomp (or, in Janine's case, soar), discovering one another's redeeming qualities as they work together to escape various perils. Ciencin leans hard on a running gag (so to speak) involving the massive clouds of gas that Bertram's vegetarian diet produces, and the plot is built on contrivances that would trip a Supersaurus. Still, nearly every one of the 42 chapters ends in a cliffhanger, and as the author has done his dino homework thoroughly (a glossary and reading list are appended), the populous prehistoric supporting cast looks and acts as authentically as current theory allows. Fredericks's occasional line drawings don't always agree with the text, but they do give uninitiated readers a sense of what the major beasts looked like. Fans of Alan Dean Foster's The Hand of Dinotopia (HarperCollins, 1999) and like novels will roar over this long but lightweight cousin.-John Peters, New York Public Library

April 1, 1999
Gr. 5^-8. School brain Bertram designed his science fair project for show, not substance. But amazingly, the contraption works--just not the way Bertram expected--sending his mind back 67 million years and into the body of an ankylosaurus. As Bertram and three schoolmates also caught in the time warp quickly discover, seeing a dinosaur is one thing, being one is entirely different. Kind football jock Mike fights a T. rex's killer instincts; beauty queen Candayce experiences thunder-thighs as a leptoceratops; sullen Janine takes flight in the body of a pterodactyl. Together, the four try to find their perilous way back to the future, overcoming personal differences as well as the unexpected gifts and challenges of their dinosaur bodies. Ciencin blends fantasy and scientific fact for a fresh, fun, and informative read. Distinctive characters, slapstick humor, snappy dialogue, and fast-paced suspense add to the book's appeal; dinophiles will delight in the detailed, realistic descriptions and drawings of prehistoric animals and their habitats, in a book sure to be popular and requested. Includes glossary and bibliography. ((Reviewed April 1, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)