about the book
It all started the summer before fifth grade with a bump on the back of my neck. Then came another and another zigzagging all the way down my spine…to the spot where my tail began to grow! Before long the bumps turned into hand-sized triangular plates and the tail grew broader and longer, ending in four foot long razor sharp spikes!
My name is Sawyer Bronson—and I have to admit that I am not surprised by what is happening to me. Years ago, my grandfather worked at Amalgram labs where some nut put a major dose of dino DNA into the cafeteria’s ice cream, turning gramps into a human stegosaurus hybrid. Since the gene skips a generation, I knew I was next in line.
Having stego DNA wreaks havoc on my life. I crave huge bowls of greens and never get full. Mom, who is thrilled with the whole hybrid thing, has to alter all my cloths…and believe me, having slits in the back of my shirt and a hole in my pants makes things uncomfortably breezy. To top it off, the spikes are super dangerous! I rip carpets, gouge doors, and shred sofas. Mom sticks tennis balls on them just so I don’t cause bodily harm! And don’t get me started on sitting. My tail has a mind of its own!
But the worst part is going back to school. Just trying to get down the aisle between the desks is a horror; I knock backpacks and books everywhere. And talk about rude comments and taunts. Class meanie Allan is all over me! Luckily super tall Elliot and the weird new girl Sylvie are good friends, and the new principal, Ms. Mathias, has a zero tolerance policy for bullies. I’m thrilled when my persecutors all get expelled!
But here’s the thing. The misbehaving kids just disappear—they’re gone! Something fishy is going on. When we do a little snooping, we discover the new principal is involved. We think she is an intergalactic alien and she’s selling the expelled kids to a pet store on Jupiter! Nobody deserves that horrible fate. In an adventure with more twists that a DNA helix, I’ll do my best to rescue my tormentors!
about the author
Cory Putnam Oakes was born in Basel, Switzerland, but her family moved back to Novato, California, shortly after. They travelled a lot and Cory grew up tolerant and appreciative of people and things that are different. When she was in sixth grade, she came to the startling realization that she could not make a career out of being the heroine in fictional books. Instead, she decided she would become an author just like Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley, or Madeleine L’Engle!
Unfortunately Cory’s path to publishing fame was a convoluted one. She went through a “maybe-I’ll-be-a-psychologist” phase that took her to UCLA and a degree in Psychology. That was followed by the “maybe-I’ll-be-a-lawyer” thing which led to a Cornell Law School Juris Doctorate degree and a job as a litigation associate at a law firm. There was also a short “maybe-I’ll-teach” phase where she taught business law to undergrads at Texas State University.
Finally her sixth-grade dream came true in 2011 when her debut young adult novel, The Veil, hit bookstore shelves. Now she plans on sticking with the writing thing!
Unfortunately, she has to be very careful because “the legal-writing beast is still very much alive inside of me, and constantly at war with the fiction-writing beast!” You won’t find much legalese language in her debut middle grade novel Dinosaur Boy. The book was inspired by Cory’s baby son who had a little hoodie that looked like a dinosaur complete with spikes. Cory tried to work the idea of a half-human/half dino baby into a project she was working on, but her editor told her it needed to be a story all on its own!
Cory lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Mark (who stuck with the “maybe-I’ll-be-a-lawyer” thing), and their two children.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Goodreads
Author interview: From the Mixed-Up Files
Book Trailer: Dinosaur Boy
Also by Cory Putman Oakes:
Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars (Dinosaur Boy, Book 2). Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. 2016.
read more!
The Ark Plan (Edge of Extinction, Book 1) by Laura Martin
An attempt to clone dinosaurs has left Earth overrun with prehistoric creatures, forcing humans to live underground. When Sky’s father mysteriously flees their compound, he leaves her with a cryptic message and a mission: deliver a life-saving memory card to somebody above ground. Sky and her best friend Shawn will risk it all to navigate the dangers and change the fate of the Earth for the better.
Dinosaur Boy Saves Mars (Dinosaur Boy, Book 2) by Cory Putman Oakes
Sawyer tries to keep his life normalish…until he and his two pals are yanked aboard a UFO and sent to Mars! They try to find Sylvie’s missing father but are stymied when Mars tries to kick Pluto out of the solar system. The fate of both planets will be decided at a Pluto versus Mars soccer match. It is up to Sawyer to figure out this intergalactic mess, defend Pluto, save Mars, and protect the galaxy!
Raising Rufus by David Fulk
Martin would much rather collect dead bugs and tinker in his barn lab than spend time with people. When he discovers a large frozen egg in a quarry, he takes it back to the barn and it hatches into an unusual lizard. Naming it Rufus, Martin soon realizes it is a T-Rex! Keeping the hungry pet a secret becomes harder and harder. When a theme park owner learns of Rufus’s existence, Martin will have to decide what is right for his pet dino.