Cover Image

Dinoverse

by Ciencin, Scott.

Format: Print Book 1999
Availability: Available at 1 Library 1 of 1 copy

Available (1)
Location Collection Call #
Penn Hills Library Juvenile j CIE
Location  Penn Hills Library
 
Collection  Juvenile
 
Call Number  j CIE
 
 

Summary
I was a teenage T. Rex! Survival of the fittest has always been the rule at Wetherford Junior High. So when Bertram Phillips's science fair project sends his mind back 67 million years, he's well prepared. After all, as the class brain, he's learned how to avoid predators. But Bertram's not prepared for his new tanklike, spike-backed Ankylosaurus form. He's become a dinosaur--and so have three other fellow students. Mike, the star quarterback who's never had much of a killer instinct, must wrestle with the hunger pangs of a T. Rex. Candayce, the beauty queen, is forced to suffer the thunder thighs of a Leptoceratops, while the morose Janine now soars blissfully on the wings of a Pterodactyl. With prehistoric perils at every turn, Bertram, Mike, Candayce, and Janine band together to find their way back home in what were once their own back yards. Theirs is an amazing, wildly comical, and very human journey...through the Age of Dinosaurs.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "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. --Shelle Rosenfeld"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "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 skillsÄfinding food, warding off enemies and escaping natural disasterÄand 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. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Self-acceptance -- Fiction.
Dinosaurs -- Fiction.
Evolution -- Fiction.
Time travel -- Fiction.
Science fiction.
Publisher New York :Random House,1999
Contributors Fredericks, Mike.
Language English
Description 282 pages, 8 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references (pages [289-290]).
ISBN 067988842X (alk. paper)
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