Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1499138 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 96 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-A highly entertaining satire based on the notion that people keep dinosaurs as pets. The premise is maintained with tongue in cheek from the foreword to closing acknowledgments. In between are more than 50 care guides for various prehistoric reptiles. Starting with easier pets such as "compies" (Compsognathus) and recreational species ("Ornithomimus is a delight to ride-as long you can avoid trotting"), readers learn about the general qualities of each creature as well as feeding, housing, breeding, and availability. Subsequent chapters include flying pets, security dinosaurs, and those suitable for zoos and safari parks, as well as species kept for their eggs, meat, hides, and feathers. DK-style page layouts include inset photos of the dinosaurs, sometimes demonstrating one of their talents, such as the trainable Troodon making toast. Occasional full-page photos are especially funny; one example shows a well-dressed man walking his Nodosaurus with a large shovel prepared for clean up. The physical descriptions relate scientific fact, while the added funny bits often expand on actual characteristics. Mash consistently sticks to his deadpan voice so the frequent jokes stay fresh and unpredictable. Completely new illustrations, a reworked layout, and several new dinosaurs make this is a successful update of the first edition (Viking, 1983; o.p.). Adults might be the most appropriate audience here, given the sophisticated vocabulary and occasional ribald humor. However, older dinosaur aficionados with a taste for irreverence will love it, and it has great potential for booktalking.-Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
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Review
'As everyone knows, dinosaurs make great pets, and this is one of the best guides on their care and feeding to date. Robert Mash includes everything the aspiring dinosaur owner needs to know... For those who still aren't sure how to distinguish different dinosaur types, there are vivid pictures of every species with detailed descriptions of their personality and dietary needs. Plus, there are cautions about the most common dinosaur dangers.' FOCUS MAGAZINE (Dec 2003) 'WHICH BOOK WE WILL BE READING COVER TO COVER FOR FUTURE REFERENCE Books? In the Loaded newsletter? Get the hell out of town! No, this particular book is How To Keep Dinosaurs by Robert Mash, a useful guide to, ummm, keeping dinosaurs as pets. It also tells you how to raise them for slaughtering and eating, which sounds more like our kind of thing... To commemorate the release of the book of the year, we are asking you all what your Number One Tip for keeping a Tyrannosaurus Rex is' LOADED magazine email newsletter 'With tongue planted firmly in cheek, this "dino owner's manual" amusingly explains what every human must know before adopting a new saurus... The illustrations cleverly mix photography and art to bring humans and dinos together for the first time, and show the animals in domestic situations. (A Compsognathus in a litter box and a Microvenator peeking hungrily into a refrigerator are particular comic highlights). This is surely the most amusing way to learn about dinosaurs ever.' THE MY JOKE CENTRE BOOKSTORE (website) 'The smart conceit behind Robert Mash's HTKD is that the reader expects to be given a prehistoric reptile for Christmas and needs to know the number of live chickens it has for breakfast... Convincing photographs show these prehistoric reptiles having pillow-fights, using a toaster and making themselves at home around the house. According to the focus group, 12 is a good age to appreciate the droll text.' -- Jonathan Sale FINANCIAL TIMES (29/11/03) 'This extensively illustrated book is a mine of information on dinosaurs and is particularly useful for identifying which dinosaur might be right for you. They can be tricky as domestic pets and it's important to know whether the variety you are considering can or can't be house-trained, what it does to upholstery and whether it might eat your cat.' -- Artemis Cooper THE MAIL ON SUNDAY (7/12/03) 'Whimsically illustrated, this is a rollicking good laugh as well as an excellent source of information on dinosaurs of all kinds.' DISCOVER (Jan 2004)

About the Author
Robert Mash read zoology at Oxford and is now head of the biology department at Clayesmore School. He lives in a thatched cottage in the middle of Dorset with his wife, son and three coleophysii.