Detective Dinosaur (I Can Read Books) [Hardcover]

James Skofield (Author), R. W. Alley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996 | Age Level: 4 and up | Series: I Can Read Books

Detective Dinosaur and Officer Pterodactyl are challenged to solve three cases when a hat is missing, a shoe squeaks, and a loud clanging comes from a dark alley at night.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2?An appealing, if somewhat bungling, detective is introduced in this easy reader. Three short chapters each present a separate case. In "The Case of the Missing Hat," Detective Dinosaur's derby is on his head the whole time, although cleverly hidden from sight in each picture. In "Night Patrol," the detective is frightened by a noise. "Perhaps it is a monster!... Perhaps we should call the Police!" "We are the Police, sir!," Officer Pterodatyl reminds him. The jokes are not particularly original, but they are likely to sound fresh to young readers. Alley's watercolor-and-ink cartoons include plenty of visual interest and some sideline humor. The vocabulary?Detective Dinosaur, Officer Pterodactyl, and Deputy Diplodocus?may seem at odds with the intended audience, but most primary graders know their dinosaur names (at least to hear them) as well as they know their ABCs. An entertaining addition.?Sharon R. Pearce, San Antonio Public Library, TX
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 1^-3. Children ready to read a simple story on their own may find that the three short mysteries in this I Can Read Book will fill the bill. The various plots are pleasantly silly and uncomplicated, and what kids may not grasp from the text (the dinosaurs' names may stop them, though probably not for long) can easily be gleaned from the artwork, which is warm, lively, and lots of fun. Enlarged type and extra leading make the reading easier. Stephanie Zvirin

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 46 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; 1st edition (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060249072
• ISBN-13: 978-0060249076
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,100,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silly and Fun, April 11, 2007

By 

M. Sarrao (New Mexico, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Detective Dinosaur (I Can Read Book 2) (Paperback)

This book is a great first chapter book for children. In each chapter, the main character, Detective Dinosaur, solves a mystery. The mysteries are often silly, but they are always fun to read. For example, in one chapter, Detective Dinosaur is looking for his hat, and it turns out it has been on his head all along! In another, he goes to see the doctor because he is sick, but the doctor is not anywhere to be found. So that is the mystery. It turns out that the doctor is home in bed because he is sick too! My son, 5, read this book to me (a chapter a night) and laughed out loud at least once per chapter. This book is good, clean fun and perfect for K-2 readers.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff for kids, good stuff for parents, March 3, 2000

By 

William Jeakle (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Detective Dinosaur (I Can Read Book 2) (Paperback)

My 4 year old son insists that I read Detective Dinosaur to him over and over. He picks out new words each time we read the story. We practice using different accents (Bogart, Karloff) to make the characters come alive. Sometimes, we have to read the book a few times (and there are three stories) before he drifts off to sleep, but its worth it to find a book that a boy loves.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A FUN AND USEFUL READ FOR THE LITTLE ONES., December 27, 2009

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Detective Dinosaur (I Can Read Book 2) (Paperback)

This is one of those books that is a bit silly (Picture Inspector Clouseau as a dinosaur talking to second graders), but at the same time also teaches in a mellow and fun way. This is a collection of three "detective stories" featuring Officer Pterodactyle, Chief Tyrannosaurus and Deputy Diplodocus. The setting is probably London at the turn of the century.

The three cases which must be solved are:

The case of the missing hat.
The case of the squeaking shoe
Night Patrol

We have three rather silly dinosaur police officers...again I am put in the mind of either Inspector Clouseau with a mixture of the Keystone Cops...trying to solve some pretty silly cases. As has been pointed out, the jokes here are pretty well worn, but for fresh ears they are quite cute and funny.

Now children of this age probably already know more dinosaur names than you or me, but the author has done a wonderful job of providing a pronunciation guide which is a no miss guide, and a good spelling guide. The kids seem to delight in pronouncing these names and that is one of the strengths of this work.

The illustrations are cute, funny and skillfully executed with plenty of mellow color. While the situations our not so able officers encounter are pretty obvious, they never the less tickle the funny bone of most children and will bring a smile or smirk to the most jaded of adult readers. The details in the illustrations are quite detailed, not only of the officers, but also the background and clothing.

Now this is not a work that I would necessarily put at the top of my "to purchase list" but it is certainly one that is worth checking out from the local library, or if available, purchasing at a nice used book store.

The text is smooth, easy to read and accompanied with the wonderful illustrations the story is well told at a level that a first or second grader can well understand and appreciate. This is also an excellent book to start the transition to chapter books for the little ones.

I like this work and do recommend it.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks