The Last Dinosaur [Library Binding]

Jim Murphy (Author), Mark Alan Weatherby (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1988

Depicts what life might have been like for the last dinosaurs on earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Superbly realistic paintings of these unreal, remote creatures give this story an eerie, dramatic thrust. Murphy begins with a factual recitation of facts about the Age of Dinosaurs and then moves into a fictional account of a herd of triceratops, and one beast that may have been the last of her kind. After the story, the author provides more information, attempting to separate fact and fiction, and speculating in such a way that readers may want to initiate their own research about the extinction of dinosaurs, and the onset of the Age of Mammals. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Trade (April 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590410970
• ISBN-13: 978-0590410977
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,210,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Murphy began his career in children's books as an editor, but managed to escape to become a writer, entering a life of personal and creative happiness and enduring financial uncertainty. He's convinced that the latter keeps him coming back to his computer to write every day and feels that a sense of impending doom is the doorway to creativity. He has never counted the number of books he's published (feeling the time and energy is better spent doing research and writing) but guesses that he has over thirty books to his credit. Jim's work has been honored with numerous awards, including two American Llibrary Association Newbery Honor Book Awards, an ALA Robert F. Sibert Award and Sibert Honor Book Award, three National Council of Teachers of English Orbis Pictus Awards, a Boston Globe/Horn Book Award and a BG/HB Honor Book Award, two SCBWI Golden Kite Awards, and been a finalist for the National Book Award. Recently, he was given the ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award for "his significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Savage, Bleak and Desolate, July 31, 2010

By 

OmegaWolf747 "Aoooooooooooo!" (MI, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Dinosaur (Paperback)

Savage due to being set at the end of the Mesozoic Era, a world populated by the huge monsters known as the dinosaurs. Bleak due to the fate we know would befall them. Desolate because of the suffering of the young triceratops cow who was the protagonist.

A band of three triceratops, the last survivors of a herd that had once numbered in the triple digits, struggles to survive against the backdrop of the late Cretaceous period when the climate was beginning to change and food to grow scarce. The young female seeks a safe place to lay her eggs and guard them. The bulls seek food and perhaps a new herd to join.

A forest fire and a run-in with a tyrannosaurus rex poses a significant challenge to the triceratops. I won't say anymore to avoid spoiling.

I disagree with rating the book for four to eight-year-olds. While I don't believe in shielding children from the realities of life, I found some of the images in the book rather disturbing when I read this book for the first time at age 12. One example would be a triceratops with a chunk of flesh being gouged from its back.

All in all, it is a beautifully illustrated book with near photographic quality pictures. The struggle for survival of the three triceratops is quite engaging and I found myself hoping they would beat the odds.

I just ordered this book again since I lost my original copy. I can't wait to receive it!