Dinosaur Pick: Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts!

Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts!
by Mike Lowry
Illustrations by the author
Orchard Books
128 pages
ISBN: 9781338359725

Available October 15, 2019


New York Times bestselling illustrator Mike Lowery tackles the most entertaining non-fiction topic and most popular subject for elementary to middle school non-fiction fans: dinosaurs!

Easy and fun to read, this book is accessible and hilarious and fans of Dav Pilkey will cheer! Dinosaurs come to life in funny comic fashion. True to the cover factoid, "a gazillion true facts!" this beauty delivers hours of entertainment. A section on how to draw dinosaurs offers would be artists and cartoonists a how-to guide.

Give this to any dinosaur fan and expect them to do a happy dance! This may be the most checked-out book at elementary libraries. For those librarians who purchase this one, you should invest in more than one copy as I see this being checked out again and again.

A MUST READ! Highly, highly recommended for every dinosaur fan and every library grade 1-high school. Even teen readers will find this an appealing read. Reluctant readers will be enthralled.

FTC Required reading: I received this ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Dystopian Pick: Inhuman

Inhuman (Book 1, Fetch series)
by Kat Falls
Scholastic Press
384 pages
2013

Available September 24, 2013

Gritty, gruesome, gripping and taut, Inhuman begins the next great YA series. Part dystopian, part Island of Dr. Moreau, part survival adventure and all great, Kat Falls hits it out of the park with this book.

Lane (Delaney) McEvoy lives West of the great wall--the wall that separates her safe environment from the East where the ferals live. After a biological disaster, the United States is split apart by the Mississippi River. In the East lies the Feral Zone and it's off limits to humans. To go there is a certain death. Lane wonders what happens in the East but she's not that worried about it until she finds out her father may be in the Feral Zone and may be in danger. In order to clear her father's name and save his life, Lane ventures East.

She meets Everson, a guard who says he'll help her and a dangerous but spirited hunter named Rafe. Lane encounters tons of strange characters and learns that the plague can be halted with medicine--which her father has been supplying.

Her father is nowhere to be found and the three must journey to Chicago--facing dangerous territory and even more dangerous predators.

Lane is a feisty female protagonist with moxie that both boys and girls will love. Fans will want book 2 immediately. I want book 2 immediately!

Gruesome and gory details and edginess make this book suitable grade 9 up.

Highly, highly recommended. Don't miss this one!

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the arc from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)