Shadow of the Dinosaurs

by Dennis Nolan

While on a camping trip with her family, Shadow the dog discovers a bone that begins to glow in the middle of the night and suddenly transports her to a prehistoric world populated by dinosaurs.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Dinosaurs

32 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Dennis Nolan is an illustrator and writer of children's books.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are a riot. The combination of realism and fantasy is a delight for the eyes, and who couldn't imagine a little Dachshund yip-yapping at an enormous dinosaur?

That said, the story didn't catch me at all. It felt choppy and forced, and basically just a vehicle to name lots of dino species. The trope of..."I had the craziest dream...and YOU were there!" seems nearly as old as Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.

[Suzanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesse's dog, Shadow, finds a bone that he thinks could be a dinosaur bone. That night, Jesse and Shadow are transported in their dreams to the time of the dinosaurs. Each dinosaur encountered is vividly described by the author. This book is above the level of preschoolers as the wording is long with description and not much action. It would capture the interest of a dinosaur lover and could be used to explore descriptive words.

[Ike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book, it was exciting and I learned about different dinosaurs!

Shadow was a really good dog. I think he was really there... and it wasn't a dream for him.

[Talea · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter loves dinosaurs and this cute little book is a consistent favorite bedtime story around here.

[Davis Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 7 year old son recently borrowed this book from our local library.

A young boy named Jesse and his dog Shadow are on a family camping trip. While they are exploring, Shadow comes across a bone. Jesse wonders if just maybe the bone could be from a dinosaur as he falls asleep for the night. While the family is asleep, Shadow notices that the bone starts to glow. Then, the scenery around Shadow starts to change. She soon finds herself back in the time of the dinosaurs. She has an amazing adventure with the dinosaurs before returning back to Jesse. When Jesse wakes up, he tells Shadow about his wonderful dream about the dinosaurs that sounds just like her amazing adventure.

My son really enjoyed this book. He did need a little help with a few of the words. I would recommend this book to all that love dinosaurs and adventures of the imagination. The illustrations were beautiful. We have read this book several times.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is told in such a playful way that it was so easy and quick to get through the book. You can tell right away that his book was written for beginning readers because the print is so large, but even for adults, it's a fun story to read through when you have a few minutes to spare, because that is all you need to get through this book.

The story follows a young boy's dog named Shadow through an adventure after finding a special dinosaur bone. The bone leads to all these changes that take place and from there, Shadow finds himself in the middle of a period long ago, where it was all ruled by dinosaurs. In order to get out of it all, Shadow must figure out what to do in order to fix everything.

A great read for a bedtime story and one that kids can read over and over again. Great for the bookshelf to have.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

a cute story
a little dog imagins what it would be like if he found a dinosaur bone that allowed him to see dinosaurs

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I really loved the little 2 1/2 foot-long Dachshund. The illustrations were beautiful.