Dino-Mike and the T. Rex Attack

January 19, 2015
In this first book in the Dino-Mike series, Mike Evans joins his paleontologist father on a dig in Montana, where the dinosaur-obsessed boy has a run-in with a living tyrannosaur. Along with a new friend named Shannon (and her trove of futuristic technology), Mike tries to corral the wayward dinosaur while fending off a mysterious nemesis, Jurassic Jeff, who is trying to prevent dinosaurs from going extinct “by introducing them into different time periods,” as Shannon explains. Aureliani’s b&w illustrations bring a fittingly cartoony vibe to the madcap action. While the writing tends toward over-explanation (“Oh no. That’s what you wanted. You wanted me to follow you, so I wouldn’t follow her. You tricked me into looking for you so I would waste time”), dinosaur fans should still be swept up in the fun. Ages 6–8.

December 15, 2014
The appearance of a live T. Rex near a fossil dig kicks off a wild round of dino-antics in this series kickoff from an Eisner Award-winning comics writer.Hardly has young Mike donned his high-tech, solar-powered hoodie-a present from his paleontologist dad-than he's running into Shannon, a mysterious girl wielding awesome futuristic devices, and running in panic from a hungry T. Rex he decides, in a less frantic moment, to name Sam. Secretive about her origins, Shannon enlists Mike, whom she dubs "Dino-Mike" (she herself goes by the less punchy moniker "Triceratops Shannon"), to help her steal a hot dog truck and lure the monster into a force field cage so that it can be sent back to the Cretaceous. Though ultimately successful, the mission is not only complicated by continuing interference from rascally dinosaur collector Jurassic Jeff, but capped, in a closing stunner, with unmistakable evidence that "Sam" was actually "Samantha." Franco strews his lickety-split escapade with cartoons featuring wide-eyed figures viewed, often, from dramatic angles, leaves loose ends aplenty for sequels, and tacks on a dino-glossary and a set of T. Rex facts at the end. Like Sam with those hot dogs, readers eager to snap up any dino-story will make quick work of this tongue-in-cheek romp. (Science fiction. 8-10)

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