The prehistoric masters of literature

Classic authors meet dinosaurs in this idiosyncratic mashup. Lacey profiles six prehistoric predecessors to well-known authors (William Shakespearasaurus, the Brontësaurus Sisters, Edgar Allan Terrordactyl, etc.), with glued-in minibooks providing ultra-abridged versions of the authors' works ("It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a dinosaur in possession of a large territory shall attract many mates," begins Jane Austenlovenator's Pride and Prejudice). Balancing out the quirky fictitious profiles are ones featuring the actual authors (Dickens and Twain round out the half dozen writers). But while Isik's cartoon portraits are entertaining, Lacey's decision to make the lives (and literary output) of the prehistoric "authors" closely echo that of their real-life counterparts is more confusing than funny, and leaves much of the book feeling repetitive. It's a nifty idea that doesn't live up to its potential. Ages 7-11. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

These entertaining dinosaur-themed biographies serve as loose introductions to literary greats and American presidents. For each book's six figures (e.g., Emily Brontksaurus, George Washingdonyx), two spreads, plus a small attached booklet, provide kinda-sorta facts ("The 13 dinosaur colonies...joined forces under Washingdonyx to defeat the snarling might of Old Pangea"); a third spread gives real, if broad, biographical information. Humorous cartoons enliven the presentations. [Review covers these Jurassic Classics titles: The Prehistoric Masters of Literature and The Presidential Masters of Prehistory.] (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From the Brontsaurus Sisters to Mark Twainceratops ("Born Samuel Three-Horn' Clemens"), a canon-expanding gallery of great writers that will have every reader, dinophile or not, roaring.For this first in a projected series, Lacey pairs profiles of six renowned white human authors with as many mostly green but similarly named and (to younger audiences, at least) ancient creators of "dinosaur dramas, prehistoric poems, and timeless fossils of fiction." For both sets she offers cogent comments on their lives and art"Having invented over 1,578 grunts, growls, and snorts, Shakespeareasaurus' talent for wordplay is unequaled"plus, in small, attached booklets, a hilariously condensed representative work for each. "ROMEO: But soft! There squats my fairest maiden! / See how she slumps her cheek upon her claw?" Following each reptilian profile is a double-page spread that presents its corresponding human. Isik missteps in casting both Catherine and Heathcliff as theropods despite clear indications in the narrative that she's a brontosaurus and he a velociraptor. Aside from this, her cartoon portraits of popeyed authors and characters in, mostly, antique dress add appropriate notes of anti-gravitas. Whether or not some of the riffs pass over their heads, readers will come away with a fund of names, titles, and general expectations that will serve them well in future encounters with literary works that have, or perhaps will, "echo[ed] across the millennia."A natural lead-in, or better, lagniappe, to Kathleen Krull's Lives of the Writers (1994, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt). (Informational novelty. 9-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.