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The Last Synapsid [Hardcover]

Timothy Mason (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

Price: $16.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Book Description

8 and up3 and up
Faith, Colorado, doesn't get many visitors. But this spring, a mysterious creature is lurking on the mountain. Fiercer than a mountain lion, it’s been hunting pets and leaving their remains scattered over the mountainside. But what is it, and what does it want? Only Rob and his best friend, Phoebe, are brave enough to investigate.

What they find on the mountain is the Last Synapsid—a squat, drooly creature that looks like a dinosaur crossed with a wienerdog—that claims to need Rob and Phoebe’s help. Having wandered into a time snag from his own era, 30 million years before the dinosaurs, “Sid” is chasing a violent carnivore called a gorgonopsid. The Gorgon has become fascinated by humanity and refuses to return to his proper place in time. But if he doesn’t, history will re-align, humans will never evolve, and Rob and Phoebe will end up as nothing more than characters in an elderly synapsid’s dream.

Timothy Mason is a playwright who wrote the book and lyrics for the Broadway musical version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! He lives in New York. The Last Synapsid is his first novel.


Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A] genuinely suspenseful, often wryly comical novel . . . Mason effectively weaves emotionally resonant stories of seventh-grade angst (school teasing, absent fathers, mother conflicts and frissons of romance) with death-defying, planet-saving hijinks involving fanged, sometimes malodorous Permian-era beasts--not an easy feat." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

TIMOTHY MASON is a playwright who wrote the book and lyrics for the Broadway musical version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! He lives in New York. The Last Synapsid is his first novel.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

  • Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (February 10, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385735812
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385735810
  • Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,581,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Timothy Mason's musical adaptation of Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! (music by Mel Marvin) has become a seasonal hit on Broadway and on tour. His plays have been produced in New York by Circle Rep, including THE FIERY FURNACE starring Julie Harris, BABYLON GARDENS with Mary-Louise Parker and Timothy Hutton, LEVITATION and ONLY YOU. He has had plays produced by the Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep, Victory Gardens, Portland Stage, the Jungle Theatre, the Guthrie Theatre Lab and the Royal National Theatre, London. Mason created the 5-play "Young Americans Cycle" in collaboration with A.C.T.'s Young Conservatory (ASCENSION DAY, THE LESS THAN HUMAN CLUB, TIME ON FIRE, MULLEN'S ALLEY and MY LIFE IN THE SILENTS). He has won the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, the W. Alton Jones Foundation Award, the Berilla Kerr Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Award and the National Society of Arts and Letters Award. He lives in New York City. THE LAST SYNAPSID is his first novel.

 

Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Grabs You from the Start and Moves you Deeply by the End, March 3, 2009
By 
John Mason (Vancouver, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Last Synapsid (Hardcover)
Contrary to popular opinion, many middle-schoolers are wonderfully literate. If your children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews are among these bright ones, give them "The Last Synapsid." Thanks to our most distant ancestor, a lovable mammalian creature called a synapsid by scientists, and Sid by main characters Rob and Phoebe, they'll travel on a warp-speed, life-and-death adventure between the present age and the Permian era, 250 million years before the dinosaurs. Along the way, they'll hear Shakespeare quoted, learn of the formation and reformation of mountains and oceans and continents, witness an enchanting Gathering of the Animals, and discover how the human race is saved from extinction.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I'm a kid again., February 25, 2009
By 
Lars J. Kjeseth (Los Angeles, California USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Last Synapsid (Hardcover)
I just finished Timothy Mason's wonderful first novel. I felt like a kid, falling in love with science fiction and fantasy all over again. I will add this book to my list of favorites for reading aloud to my nephews and nieces.

I hope this isn't the last adventure for Rob, Phoebe, and Sid.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredibly Enjoyable Read -- For Both Kids and Parents, March 6, 2009
By 
Adam Belanoff (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Last Synapsid (Hardcover)
Timothy Mason really knows how to spin an engaging yarn with humor, lots of heart and any number of surprising turns...

Although the book is listed as reading for the under 12 crowd (and delighted my nine-year old nephew), I was incredibly pleased to find it a true page-turner -- even for someone several multiples of age older. :)

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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
bark bark bark, joy gene
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Jane Traylor, Lucy Gates, Sheriff Pete, Billy Springer, Stair Master, Philippa Larson, Mickie Pine, Main Street, Rob Gates, Principal Dunne, Patrick Mulcahy, Sally May, Gang of Six, Janet Bright, Deputy Keith, Phoebe Rob, Ice Age, Rob Rob, Arabella Giddens, Sid Rob, Nancy Sweet, Phoebe Traylor, Vidal Cruz, Chad Scudder, Jake Gates
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