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Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars
Cover of Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars
Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars
Borrow Borrow

The second installment in the laugh-out-loud, quirky new middle grade series from Cory Putman Oakes.

Part-Stegosaurus Sawyer and his two best friends are on a rescue mission to Mars when they encounter bullying of galactic proportions: Mars is trying to kick Pluto out of the solar system. Can the crew brave an interplanetary soccer match, a Plutonian rights organization called BURPS, and a batch of unusually potent tacos to save the galaxy?

When you're part Stegosaurus life can be a little crazy. (Yes, sleeping with plates is weird. No, dino-human hybrids do not have second brains in their butts.) But Sawyer's life is normal(ish)—until he's yanked aboard a UFO and sent on a mission to Mars.

Sawyer, Elliot and Sylvie travel to Mars to find her missing father, but they find even bigger trouble. Mars is trying to kick Pluto out of the solar system. And the fate of both planets will be decided by the upcoming Pluto VS Mars soccer match. Of course.

It's an intergalactic mess, and only Sawyer can save Mars, defend Pluto and protect the galaxy...

Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars is the perfect...

  • dinosaur book for middle school boys
  • solar system book for kids 9-12 to learn about our universe in a new and exciting way!
  • preteen gift for boys
  • funny book for kids 9-12 and reluctant readers
  • "You thought your day at school was rough. Try being half dinosaur. Dinosaur Boy is a hilarious adventure and as sharp as a stegosaurus's tail, with twists and turns on every page...fantastic."—Nathan Bransford, author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow

    "Funny, fast-paced, and filled with surprising twists, Dinosaur Boy is a charming story about friendship, bullies, dinosaurs,and learning to live with being very, very different. The ending will have boys and girls roaring for more of Sawyer's adventures, and possibly wishing for their very own dinosaur genes!"—Nikki Loftin, author of The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy and Nightingale's Nest

    The second installment in the laugh-out-loud, quirky new middle grade series from Cory Putman Oakes.

    Part-Stegosaurus Sawyer and his two best friends are on a rescue mission to Mars when they encounter bullying of galactic proportions: Mars is trying to kick Pluto out of the solar system. Can the crew brave an interplanetary soccer match, a Plutonian rights organization called BURPS, and a batch of unusually potent tacos to save the galaxy?

    When you're part Stegosaurus life can be a little crazy. (Yes, sleeping with plates is weird. No, dino-human hybrids do not have second brains in their butts.) But Sawyer's life is normal(ish)—until he's yanked aboard a UFO and sent on a mission to Mars.

    Sawyer, Elliot and Sylvie travel to Mars to find her missing father, but they find even bigger trouble. Mars is trying to kick Pluto out of the solar system. And the fate of both planets will be decided by the upcoming Pluto VS Mars soccer match. Of course.

    It's an intergalactic mess, and only Sawyer can save Mars, defend Pluto and protect the galaxy...

    Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars is the perfect...

  • dinosaur book for middle school boys
  • solar system book for kids 9-12 to learn about our universe in a new and exciting way!
  • preteen gift for boys
  • funny book for kids 9-12 and reluctant readers
  • "You thought your day at school was rough. Try being half dinosaur. Dinosaur Boy is a hilarious adventure and as sharp as a stegosaurus's tail, with twists and turns on every page...fantastic."—Nathan Bransford, author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow

    "Funny, fast-paced, and filled with surprising twists, Dinosaur Boy is a charming story about friendship, bullies, dinosaurs,and learning to live with being very, very different. The ending will have boys and girls roaring for more of Sawyer's adventures, and possibly wishing for their very own dinosaur genes!"—Nikki Loftin, author of The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy and Nightingale's Nest

    Available formats-
    • OverDrive Read
    • EPUB eBook
    Languages:-
    Copies-
    • Available:
      always available
    • Library copies:
      always available
    Levels-
    • ATOS:
      5.2
    • Lexile:
      740
    • Interest Level:
      MG
    • Text Difficulty:
      4


    Excerpts-
    • From the book

      The Jerk

      There are lots of cool things about being part stegosaurus.

      Trying to get a decent night's sleep isn't one of them.

      I used to sleep on my back like a normal person. But now that my back has seventeen hard plates on it, that's no longer an option. Neither is lying on my front, since my back is so heavy that it's hard to breathe when I'm flat on my stomach. Curling up on my side sort of works, but I have to wedge myself into place with tons of pillows so I don't accidentally roll over and squash my plates. And who can sleep when they're practically drowning in pillows?

      One night, I even tried to sleep standing up. They say that real stegosauruses might have done that. But real stegosauruses had four legs. I only have two, so let's just say the mechanics didn't exactly work out.

      My latest attempt at a comfy sleep position came courtesy of my grandfather. He used to be part stegosaurus himself (until he took the cure). He told me that when he had dinosaur parts, he never had a good night's sleep either. Until he visited Dubai where he saw a camel kneel in the sand, tuck its legs underneath its body, and take a nap.

      I figured it was worth a shot. So last night I got down on all fours in the center of my bed, tucked my knees under my chest, stretched my tail out behind me, and rested my cheek on a stack of pillows.

      It must have worked. Or maybe I was just really tired. But either way, I was still in that same position when my mom came in and woke me up early the next morning.

      I couldn't figure out why she was telling me I had to get up and go to school. It was a Saturday, after all. And by my count, I still had two days of winter break left.

      "It's a makeup day," she explained, waving her phone in my face. I blinked and caught a blurry glimpse of her inbox. "The school is legally required to add an extra day to make up for the ones you missed because of the flooding last month."

      "They can just end vacation early like that?" I asked. My dog, Fanny, made an irritated noise from her place at the end of my bed and rolled over, curling herself back into a ball. "On a weekend?"

      "I guess so," my mom said. "There's a notice on the school website and they sent an email reminder late last night. We're lucky I didn't miss it!"

      "Lucky" wasn't exactly what I was feeling, especially when I caught sight of the bright-yellow assignment sheet on my desk.

      "Mom! The paper!"

      As homework over break, Ms. Filch had assigned us to figure out what our "passion" was and write a paper about it. I had spent so long staring at the assignment sheet that I now knew the definition of "passion" by heart:

      Passion (noun): a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something

      I'd spent the entire break trying to figure out a topic, but nothing had come to me. I had gone to bed last night thinking I had two more days for inspiration to strike, but that didn't seem to be true anymore.

      My mom patted my tail sympathetically.

      "I know you've been trying, Sawyer. I'll write Ms. Filch a note and ask if she'll give you an extension. Now hurry! You don't want to be late for the makeup day!"

    • As I trudged to school, I tried to put my finger on what was so complicated about figuring out my passion. It wasn't that I didn't have strong feelings about things. Of course I did. There were plenty of things I enjoyed: I liked playing fetch with Fanny; I liked going fishing with my dad; and ever since my herbivore dinosaur gene had kicked in, I really liked salad. But all of those things seemed too boring to be my "passion."

      ...
    About the Author-
    • CORY PUTMAN OAKES was born in Switzerland and grew up in California. She graduated from UCLA and Cornell Law. Since then, she's been an associate at a big law firm, taught at Texas State University, and written several books. Cory lives in Austin, Texas, with husband and daughter. Visit Cory's website at corypoakes.com.

    Reviews-
    • Kirkus

      November 15, 2015
      Sawyer Bronson's spiky stegosaurus tail provides both help and hindrance in a rescue flight to the red planet that takes on solar system-wide significance. As in Dinosaur Boy (2015), Oakes lays a plotline stocked with daft twists atop a foundation of big, serious themes. Thanks to some bad history and simmering racial tensions, the upcoming soccer game between Mars' Red Razers and the blue-skinned Kuiper Kickers of Pluto is shaping up to be a grudge match, with Pluto's iffy status as an official planet and its very membership in the Intergalactic Soccer Federation at stake. But even before Bronson arrives on Mars in his grandpa's flying saucer there are hints that the fix is in--with the Martian Council set to vote the dwarf planet out whatever the final score and a radical Plutonian splinter group dubbed the Brotherhood United for the Restoration of Planetary Status (which yields the delightful acronym BURPSers) plotting to release an experimental bioweapon. Can Bronson find a way to scotch both schemes? Around these plainly metaphorical elements the author weaves subplots including divorce, friendship, polar bear extinction, and the power of classic TV to promote interplanetary harmony. She also again sets up her white, fifth-grade protagonist to display a thoroughly admirable willingness to make peace by shouldering responsibilities that others will not. Deft stimulus for both brains and funny bones. (appendix of scientific references) (Science fiction. 10-12)

      COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Las Vegas Review Journal "Kids will roar for 'Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars'...Oakes twists her tale with almost-possible plotlines that will appeal perfectly to young SF fans; by the time they get to the big laboratory scene (which was where I got hooked), they'll be stomping around for even more from Sawyer, Sylvie and Elliot."
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