Big Plans for Henry

Henry the Hadrosaur #1

by Tim Clarey, Reneé Clarey

With a quake and a crrrack, the hadrosaur egg breaks open and Henry's journey begins. What does God have in store for this little duck-bill dinosaur? Join Henry as he makes new friends and follows tracks to a surprising discovery.

33 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Dr. Timothy Clarey received a B.S. in geology, a master of science in geology, a master of science in hydrogeology, and a Ph.D. in geology. From 1984 to 1992, Dr. Clarey was employed as a geologist with a major oil company, and from 1995 to 2013, he was a full professor and geosciences chair at a public college in Michigan before joining the staff at the Institute for Creation Research.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute dinosaur story, accompanied by dinosaur facts, from a biblical perspective. A bit preachier than I would like, even though I agree with the message, but 3-5 year-olds often like having the message clearly stated, and they definitely like dinosaurs. I hope for picture books that are more creative and artistic to come from ICR in the future, but this is a decent, pleasant start.

Update: Having now read it for a class of 4 year-olds, I can confirm they liked it. Personally I think the writing and story could still use tightening. There are dinosaur trivia forced inelegantly into the story without any reason beyond education, and it hurts the flow of the story. And in general the story tells us things instead of showing them. However, there’s still some charm and cuteness. The kids paid attention and said they liked it afterward. So my rating hasn’t changed.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry is a hadrosaur and he gets separated from his mama while traveling with the herd to find food to eat. While searching to reunite with Mama, Henry remembers over and over again how Mama always told him, "God, our creator, has great plans for you." Lost, Henry is intent on finding these plans, but where are they? Look as he may, he can't seem to find them, but he does meet several other dinosaurs along the way. Until one day, Henry and Sammy (his travel companion squirrel) come upon some people building this enormous boat. Is this the great plan God has for him?

In the front of the book, the authors acknowledge that this is a fictional story that is based on scientific and biblical fact. Throughout the book there are boxes of dino facts, science facts, fossil facts and Bible fact. This was a good read. The pages are also extra thick and would withstand lots of little fingers turning the pages over and over again.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry the hadrosaur wonders what God's big plan is for him. He follows some tracks, and meets other creatures along the way. There are side boxes with informative text about dinosaurs along the way.

This interprets fossil findings and from them extrapolates theories about dinosaurs from a young Earth Creationist perspective. Noah and the flood are incorporated into the story. For Creationist families and schools, this is an entertaining and informative dinosaur story. I felt like the text boxes distracted from the flow of the story; they might have been better incorporated as back matter, but that is just my opinion.