The Dinosaur Kid
Chuck Knock
Paperback
(Bowker, Oct. 21, 2017)
Mason Trumble is a brave 8-year-old who discovers a map to an extraordinary treasure. It sends him to a place called 'Dinosaur Gulch', and when he finally locates the treasure it's different from what he expects. It's not a wooden chest full of pirate booty, but a stone chest full of small, golden dinosaurs. Far more valuable than coins or jewels, the little statues are powerful, magical amulets with the ability to transform whoever is holding one into a dinosaur. Mason discovers this by accident when he stops to help a neighbor lady. While holding on to one of the amulets, Mason becomes a triceratops that's big and strong enough to easily push his neighbor's car out of a ditch. There are lots of different dinosaur statues in the chest --- and Mason has the power to temporarily turn into any of them, from a fearsome tyrannosaurus rex, to a flying pteranodon, to a colossal brachiosaurus. When he has turned into one, Mason has all the size, strength, and abilities of whatever dinosaur he has become. No kid could resist using the amulets, and of course Mason tries them out. After he carries out a few rescues, his little sister, Katie, gets in on the action. Just in time, too, as she saves her brother from bullies by turning into a tyrannosaurus rex. Their adventures culminate in a dramatic fashion when both work together as dinosaurs in front of hundreds of witnesses to save a couple of girls from drowning. An illustrated glossary that features each dinosaur that's in the story is at the end of the book. It includes a pronunciation guide and a picture of each dinosaur's magical amulet.