Rex: Dinosaur in Disguise
Elys Dolan
Publication Date:
1 Jun. 2022
Format:
Paperback / softback
ISBN 9781406397703
Rex is king of the dinosaurs: carnivores want to be him and herbivores want to be eaten by him... That is, until a pesky Ice Age comes along and he winds up frozen solid in a glacier. When he wakes up, 65 million years later, human beings rule the roost – and if they get their hands on Rex, he'll wind up in a zoo. (Or, worse: a MUSEUM.)
Lucky for him, Rex isn't the only undercover creature in town. He's whisked out of danger by the one and only Bigfoot, who has been surviving among the humans undetected for years. Bigfoot and his friends show Rex how to get by in the humans' world, and soon there's only one thing left for him to do: GET A JOB.
But that's easier said than done ... and with a meddling nine-year-old neighbour to deal with, and the constant risk of discovery, life couldn't be harder for a dinosaur in disguise.
Information
Book Type: Early ReadersAge Group: 7 years +
Traffic Lights: Green/Amber
Class Novel: No
Good Reads Rating: 5/5
Literary Rating: 5/5
Review
Rex is a tyrannosaurus rex, and he also happens to be in a bit of a pickle. Having been frozen during the ice age, he has woken up in modern times and discovered that the world has changed quite a bit! There are no dinosaurs anywhere, the jungles he knew have vanished, and these funny little creatures called ‘humans’ are everywhere!
Fortunately, Rex is soon found by a yeti named Bigfoot who has been living amongst the humans in secret for years. Deciding to help Rex blend in, Bigfoot takes him to meet his friends, Nessie the Loch Ness monster and Mr Dodo the dodo, and teaches him the basics of ‘being human’.
Over the next few days, the creatures try to help Rex pretend to be human and get a job, but when one disaster after another befalls the dinosaur he begins to lose hope that he will ever fit in. Meanwhile, a young girl named Sandra and her friend Anish are investigating ‘Mr Foot’s’ strange new flatmate—he is definitely not human! She tried to investigate with her friend Maddie, but she has been very standoffish ever since she started hanging out with the school bullies, Hannah M and Hannah P. After following a series of clues, Sandra and Anish manage to discover the truth and, much to Bigfoot’s surprise, they are thrilled!
With Sandra and Anish’s help, Rex finally learns to blend in, and gets a job as a PE teacher at the kids’ school. Despite a close call when Bigfoot and Rex are discovered and captured by the zoo, the community eventually accepts them as the creatures they are, and Rex settles into his new life with his brand-new friends.
This is a very fun, easy-to-read, and wholesome story. With lots of illustrations and text bubbles that are integrated seamlessly into the story and a series of author’s notes that provide information and context in a humorous way, this is a wonderfully funny story for younger readers with a solid message about accepting others, being yourself, and not believing everything you read on the internet!
Themes
dinosaurs, disguises, jobs, secrets, mythical creatures, conspiracy theories, friendship
Content Notes
1. Rex references dinosaurs eating prey and other dinosaurs several times, but this is not at all described, and it is not depicted in the illustrations.
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