A Night in the Dinosaur Graveyard

by A.J. Wood, Wayne Anderson (Illustrator)

Fred, Lucy and their dog Soap accompany Professor Sponge on a fossil hunt and get more than they bargained for—a night in a dinosaur graveyard! A full-color picture book adventure with the added attraction of 10 dinosaur holograms, including one on the cover.

Children's Choices for 1995 (IRA/CBC)

Genres: Dinosaurs, Picture Books, Childrens

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1994

Reviews

[Tina Haigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would've loved this book as a kid. It has just about everything that makes a book magic. It has an adventure, dinosaur bones, ghosts, holographic pictures, and hidden panels in a few pages. What more does a kid need really. This isn't a regular book but it isn't a pop-up either. It exists somewhere in between. It has just enough to keep a little kid engaged and excited to turn the pages. I would've liked a more in depth story, or a much simpler story. I think the author tried to make it appeal to older readers as well as young, but I think it would've worked better sticking to a young audience. I would recommend this to children ages 4 to 8.

[Liam O'Leary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book scary as a kid, finding it again at 28 reminded me that. It was those holographic dinosaur windows. All I remember is the ambiguity about whether these ghostly dinosaurs were hostile to the main characters in the story, and wondering why they weren't as scared as I was and then getting confused as to why I should relate or care about humans not scared by the threat posed to themselves by something ethereally spooky like this. I don't even think it's that I read it too young (6-7?), as the book is generally creepy even now. Just because dinosaurs are long extinct doesn't normalize giving them ghostly figures, it only makes one think whether humans may one day be seen this way to other species — there's a feeling of death about it which seems out of touch with a kids book (better in line with YA horror novels).

The ghostly dinosaurs in this book will only spook your kid out (morbidly, less than a jump-scare), in a way that makes the words in the story not memorable. It could clearly cause nightmares. They'll probably be too scared or focused on the images to be thinking about what's going on. And honestly, at the risk of scaring a fairly young kid, is it really that important that very young children learn about dinosaurs?

[Lisa Bland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about two children (a girl and boy) called Lucy and Fred. The children are curious and want to explore with Professor Sponge who is going on a fossil hunt. They end up camping in some caves and discover that the caves are not what they seem. The caves have dinosaur ghosts living inside of them and so Lucy, Fred and the Professor run as fast as they can away from them to safety. They accidentally run into more ghost dinosaurs and become very frightened, however, the dinosaurs begin to speak to the them and ask for one of their fossil bones back which Fred was holding. They claim it belonged to the dinosaur king Tyrannosaurus Rex and was once stolen from them by Dr. Digger (a fossil hunter). So Fred, Lucy and the Professor find the ghost Tyrannosaurus Rex and return the fossil to him and then the ghosts disappear.

This book has dinosaur holograms throughout the pages which look as though they try to represent a ghostly image. This makes the book stand out and appear very appealing (especially to children). I like this touch to the illustrations as it is different and unusual. As well as the hologram, this book also has things that pop out (e.g. cut outs and holes to peer through onto the next page). This makes the book very interactive and busy, children appear to like the texture and physical side to enjoying a book such as this.

Although there are good points to the book such as the ones mentioned above, i personally did not feel there was much of a story. I didn't really enjoy reading it and would suggest if it was to be read then it would be suitable to read aloud to an infant class (Key stage 1).

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids liked the holograms but the story was meh.

[Jared Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wood, A.J. A Night in the Dinosaur Graveyard. U.K.:Templar, 1994.
Genre - Fiction - Dinosaurs
This is a book about a brother and sister on a fossil hunt with their professor grandfather. When they find a cave to sleep for the night they are awakened by dinosaur ghosts that chase them through the cave until they reach a T-Rex fossil where they must return the huge bone they found to him in order to free him. The story ends with them escaping safely.
The story is fun and interactive for young kids around 3 to 4 years of age. Throughout the story there are leafs to pull open to reveal something on the next page. Also, throughout the book there are hologram's that have images of dinosaurs which can get a young reader more into the pictures. The book ends with the T-Rex, the scariest dinosaur of all, actually being thankful for the kids and their grandpa. This makes the story not as scary after the story is finished allowing the child to not have nightmares as easily.

[Rosie Newark-smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

With three children, the eldest being neary 13 and the youngest 4 years old I consider myself quite experienced in reading to children. I really do not like saying this but this is by far one of the worst books and the MAIN reason for this is that it includes this line..."AND HE LEANT ON A BOULDER THAT WITH A HUGE RUMBLE SWUNG SILENTLY OPEN LIKE A DOOR" !!!!!!?????

[Kathryn Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great graphics. Over all ctue book. I love the use of mirror and special effects. The story line is very unrealistic, but the dinosaurs and their titles and illustrations are very realistic. Great book to use when doing a lesson plan of artifacts or dinosaurs.