Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars

Cory Putman Oakes's Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars is a daft space adventure for 8 year olds about a boy with a stegosaurus tail and absolutely no idea what his passion is.

What happens

Sawyer is part stegosaurus. He has seventeen plates on his back, which makes sleeping a nightmare (he's even tried kneeling like a camel). His tail spikes are so sharp that school makes him keep tennis balls stuck on the ends.

He also has homework he can't do. His teacher wants a paper about his passion, and his list of Possible Passions is completely empty.

Then a UFO crash-lands in the school playground. Two polar bears charge down the ramp, followed by Sawyer's grandfather in an Indiana Jones hat, asking who's got the peanut butter. Sylvie's dad (a Martian) may have been kidnapped, and Grandpa needs Sawyer, Sylvie and their friend Elliot to help find him.

It's a very silly ride. The polar bears can talk, and one of them is rather sarcastic. There's a stowaway from Pluto hiding in a cupboard with a stolen Snickers bar. And Martians and Plutonians still aren't over a football final. Was it a foul or a dive?

Sawyer tells the story himself and he's good company. He's grumpy about school, sweet with a homesick polar bear, and underneath the jokes he's still trying to work out what he really cares about.

This is the second book about Sawyer and his friends. He mentions an earlier adventure now and then, but he fills you in as he goes.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

This one's written for readers a bit older than this shelf. Sawyer and his friends are in fifth grade, the words are American, and Grandpa points an old revolver at the stowaway for a while before deciding he's harmless. Nobody gets hurt and it's all played for laughs. A confident reader who loves a silly story will be fine, and it's great fun to read together.

What to read next

If the tail and the plates are the bit they love, Dinosaur Pox by Jeremy Strong is in the library too. Jodie goes to bed grumpy and wakes up as a stegosaurus, and her brother thinks it's the best thing he's ever seen.