Gabby Gilliam's Reviews > Dinosaur Boy

If this review was strictly up to me, it would probably only get 3 stars. However, I read this aloud to my five year old and he loved it. We received a plush stegosaurus with the book. It read with us every night. My son loves both of them. It appears there is a sequel also. The boy wants to read that one too.

It's a quick read, with language easy for young readers to understand. It tackles some important issues like racism, justice, and bullying in a fresh way given the main character is treated differently because he's part dinosaur. Some of the bullies are so vindictive that it almost makes it implausible that the main character would still risk anything to help them later in the book. It would be interesting to see how all of the characters relate once the crisis of the book is over, but the wrap up is a bit rushed and we only get full resolution with Sawyer, the main character. His friend Sylvie is left with zero resolution and we don't see what happens to any of the bullies post-conflict. It would have been nice to see how everyone meshed the next day at school.

Even so, it was fun and a big hit with its target audience.