Betting On Forever [Paperback]

Billy Aronson (Author), John Quinn (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Series: Learning Triangle Press

The place is earth, the time is now. A colourful cast of extinct creatures return to earth for a ten-thousand year reunion. The planet looks pretty good, no comets crashing to earth, Ice Ages or erupting volcanoes until a bet is made with Sabretoothed Tiger that by the end of the reunion they will all agree that their living relatives are in danger and that life on Earth is in more trouble than ever before. Lining up both sides of the argument, each confident that they will win the bet, the spirits embark on a captivating and often hilarious journey to their old haunts to spy on present day animals of the air, sea and land. This work of fiction offers a message of hope, as well as solid lessons on evolution, ecology, endangerment, extinction and the importance of keystone species, employing a facts-in-fiction approach to make readers of all ages aware of the delicate interdepency of living things.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6. Imagine a reunion that occurs only every 10,000 years, and the alumni that show up are all ghosts of prehistoric animals. T. rex mingles with the woolly mammoth; saber tooth and dodo reminisce; the ghosts of herbivores and carnivores yuck it up now that the hunt for food is a thing of the past. It's a fun time, until the dodo insinuates that all is not well on Earth, and then provides a tour of the contemporary world. The animal spirits shudder at the mess made by the "tall chimps" (humans) and the environmental catastrophes they have created. Though some people are fighting to save the planet, the book ends with the animals returning to the void undecided about Earth's future. Aronson wallows in cliches and uses sloppy anthropomorphizing. Often the animals seem to have been given a voice simply to mouth the author's beliefs. The brown-and-white line drawings match the amateurish level of the writing and add little to the story. Skip this one.?Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

It was a typical spring morning, in a typical park, in a typical town-until a saber-tooth tiger came charging out from behind a bench. And a wolly mammoth leapt out from a bush. And a tyrannosaurus emerged from behind a hill, a giant dragonfly fluttered from the branches of a tree, and dozens of other extinct creatures came dashing, waddling, and flying together for their Extinct Animal Reunion. These extinct creatures have been showing up for reunions every ten thousand years or so, to enjoy a pleasant look at life on the old planet. But this reunion turns out to be anything but pleasant. As the old timers boast about how hard things were in their day, when they had to deal wth ice ages, devastating meteors, and towering meat-eaters, a newly extinct creature-an odd little bird-bets the others that creatures living now have it harder than they ever did... and that life on the planet might in fact be coming to an end. Though the others think the bird's out to lunch, they accept the bet, and set out to explore the planet they thought they knew... Take a tour with these prehistoric visitors, as they uncover clues that baffle them, horrify them, and convince them that... SOMETHING WIERD IS HAPPENING ON THE OLD HOME PLANET.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 149 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070058296
• ISBN-13: 978-0070058293
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,670,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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