Blog Entry #18

 

The Dinosaur Tamer

By Carol Greathouse

Illustrated by John Shroades

Dutton Children’s Books, 2009

32 pages

Fantasy

 

            I chose this book because I thought it was a fantastic read for boys! This book could really hold their attention and interest. The Dinosaur Tamer is about a boy named Rocky, who became the greatest dinosaur tamer in the land. Rocky was a small guy, but tough. From the time he was a kid, he could rope a dinosaur in no time. So when the toughest dinosaur of all came to town, Rocky was the one to call. Rocky tamed a big T. Rex and stopped him from wreaking havoc in the town. He broke T. Rex and rode him everywhere he went from that day forward.

            The illustrations look as if some of them are a mix of computer graphics and drawing. Computer graphics look like the dominant feature of the illustrations, but there may be some drawing involved. The colors in the book are bright hues and tones. It is a fun book, and the colors the illustrator chose reflect that. The vivid color really brings out the nature scenes in the book, and there is some texture to the illustrations. Since it is a fantasy book, the illustrations are highly exaggerated. For example, the scene when Rocky roped the T. Rex is very unrealistic, but the illustration looks very real. It looks like it could have really happened.        

            This book would be appropriate for probably third grade and up for independent readers, because the book contains a lot of scientific names for dinosaurs. The dialogue of the book is pretty easy, besides the scientific names, but the text is lengthy. The book could still be used for a teacher read aloud for an earlier grade, and the Old West accent in the dialogue makes it a fun read aloud! I read this book to a kindergarten student, and he absolutely loved it. He was so interested the whole time, but I did stop to explain what some of the words meant. This book would be great for an integrated science lesson on dinosaurs for the upper elementary grades or a lesson on the Wild West for social studies. A vocabulary lesson could also be taken away from this book. The Dinosaur Tamer has no awards or honors.