The Christmasaurus

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The magical, moving and bestselling first children's novel from Tom Fletcher.
Forget everything you thought you knew about the North Pole, and set off on a Christmas Eve adventure with boy named William Trundle, an elf named Snozzletrump, Santa Claus (yes! The real Santa Claus!), a nasty piece of work called the Hunter, and a most unusual dinosaur . . .

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

This story starts like all good stories do, a long time ago. Not just a long time ago, but a very, very, very long time ago. Squillions of years ago, in fact. Long before your granny and your granddad were born. Before there were any human beings at all. Before cars and airplanes, even before there was the internet, there was something even better. . . . DINOSAURS! Dinosaurs were the most awesome creatures ever to walk the planet. There were lots of them, and they came in all shapes and sizes. There were small ones that were not much bigger than dogs or cats, some with spiky prickle horns on their backs. There were stupendously ginormous ones called Seismosaurus that were longer than five double-decker buses, with necks thicker than tree trunks and skin like the hard rubber tires of a tractor. I know that sounds hard to believe, but it's definitely true, because this is a book, and books don't lie. I'd like to tell you about two very special dinosaurs. We'll call them Momosaurus and Dadlodocus. (Those weren't their real names, of course--that would just be silly.) Momosaurus and Dadlodocus had been out all day in the hot, hot heat of the prehistoric sun and were returning home to their tidy little nest. But what they found in its place was something horrendously horrible: an almighty pile of rocks, bones, and dust. Their home had been raided by evil scavenger dinosaurs, and these sneaky, scroungy little scavengers had smashed it up completely! But for Momosaurus and Dadlodocus, the mess was the last thing on their minds, because they had left their most precious things alone inside the nest: twelve dinosaur eggs , which were now nowhere to be seen! As you can imagine, Momosaurus and Dadlodocus were devastated. They stood in the wreckage of their nest, weeping and roaring for a very long time, until the sun went down and the moon and stars filled the sky above the jungle. That night, a light breeze was blowing through the enormous trees, and a sliver of silvery moonlight found its way to the remains of the nest. Suddenly, something caught Dadlodocus's eye. Something smooth and shiny was reflecting a moonbeam from under a pile of bones and mud. He quickly and gently lifted the rocks and rubble, and there it was, gleaming, perfectly unharmed in the moonlight. It was their one last EGG. How this one and only egg had escaped the hungry scavengers' rampage was a mystery. Perhaps their greedy tummies were full up, or maybe this egg had rolled out of sight when they were smashing and crushing the others. Whatever the reason, all that mattered was that Momosaurus and Dadlodocus had one egg left. The tiny dinosaur that was curled up safely inside that egg became the most important thing in the world to them, and they weren't going to let anything bad happen to it ever again! But something bad was about to happen--something that would change the world forever. Something big. Something astronomically, intergalactically, outer spacey-wacey big! The pearly moonlight that blanketed the dinosaurs' broken nest suddenly seemed to turn yellow. Then the yellow turned orange and then to a hot, fiery red. Momosaurus and Dadlodocus peered out from their home, staring in disbelief. It was as though the moon itself was on fire! As they watched, the whole sky turned into a violent fireworks display of whizzing hot rocks and shooting stars--and not the kind of shooting stars that you and I know, which swoosh prettily over the sky like beautiful little scratches of light in space. These ones didn't swoosh by at all. These ones smashed straight down like red-hot thunderbolts that exploded into thousands of fireballs as they hit the Earth! Panic and chaos consumed the jungle. Flaming trees were uprooted by huge, five-double-decker-bus-sized dinosaurs, and smaller dinosaurs were squished and trampled. The night sky was brighter than the lightest day, and the moon felt hotter than the midday sun-- but there was only one thing on Momosaurus's and Dadlodocus's minds. Protecting their egg! They had to get their egg to safety! So they ran. They ran as fast as their dinosaur feet could carry them, desperately clinging to that last, treasured egg. They joined the stampede of thousands of terrified dinosaurs fleeing the danger, but no matter how fast and how far they ran, they couldn't seem to escape. After all, how can you run from the sky? Momosaurus and Dadlodocus were swept into the crowd, pulled this way and pushed that way in a great sea of dinosaurs, and as hard as they tried, they just couldn't hold on to their egg any longer! It slipped from their grip and fell to the ground. Now, I bet you're thinking that the egg was crushed instantly, right? Well, smarty-pants, it wasn't, actually! A pile of leaves broke the egg's fall, and it rolled into the stampede, unharmed. It was kickerbashed and knockerboshed every which way--but it still didn't crack! Momosaurus and Dadlodocus chased after it as it bounced between giant Diplodocus legs and rolled under stomping Stegosaurus feet, narrowly avoiding being squished time after time. It rolled and rolled, as if it had a mind of its own, falling from rocky ledges to treetops and swooshing down slushy mudslides, as Momosaurus and Dadlodocus desperately chased after it. If Momosaurus and Dadlodocus had been looking up at the sky instead of trying to find their egg, they would have seen such a terrifyingly, heart-stoppingly, frighteningly scary sight. The whole sky was on fire above them. What they had thought was the flaming moon was, in fact, a whopping, giganterrific planet smasher of a meteorite. It had traveled from the deepest depths of space and was about to smash-whack into planet Earth and wipe out all the dinosaurs forever! But just before the meteorite did its planet smashing, the lucky egg rolled all the way to the edge of a tall, jagged cliff, high above the ferocious ocean. All Momosaurus and Dadlodocus could do was watch helplessly as their last precious egg, with their tiny baby dinosaur inside, calmly toppled over the edge of the cliff and out of sight. Gone forever. The egg fell straight down, missing the rocky face of the cliff by inches. This was a very lucky egg indeed! It plopped peacefully into the ocean below, like a pebble in a lake, and instantly sank deep into the darkness, leaving the fiery chaos of the world above the waves. Eventually it came to rest on a soft, sheltered spot on the ocean floor as the meteor shower it left behind rained down unforgivingly, destroying every living dinosaur on the planet. Except one. The one inside the egg! While the egg lay peacefully at the bottom of the ocean, the world continued to burn--and then it froze solid, in an ice age that would last for thousands of years. There the egg remained, deep in the ice, frozen in time, just waiting to be discovered. . . . Excerpted from The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

In this quirky Christmas outing, William Trundle-a dinosaur enthusiast who is being teased by a bully because he uses a wheelchair-requests a real dinosaur from Santa. Luckily, a prologue explains, a single frozen dinosaur egg happens to have survived. Santa's elves dig it up in the North Pole, and Santa reluctantly agrees to sit atop it (his "bum" is the only one big enough). Out hatches Christmasaurus: in Devries's charming, grayscale art, the dino appears as a friendly creature with horns and a featherlike fringe around his neck. Christmasaurus-who doesn't feel like he fits in among the elves, reindeer, and Santa-accidentally hitches a ride on the sleigh. Readers will guess that Christmasaurus and William are destined for one another-but first, a dastardly villain with a pipe and a pup intervenes. Making his middle grade debut, songwriter Fletcher offers a goofy-humored fantasy about differences, friendship, and holiday magic. Ages 8-12. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-6-Meet William Trundle, a 10-year-old boy who loves dinosaurs, Christmas and his father. William begins his story a happy-go-lucky boy who uses a wheelchair, has lots of friends, and believes in Santa. But the school bully, Brenda Payne, torments William so that he becomes unhappy, friendless, and worried that he is a burden to his father. After a particularly bad day at school, William's father explains the power of belief and reminds William to write his letter to Santa, suggesting he ask for something that would make William happy. Nothing would make William happier than a dinosaur but in no way does he imagine that Santa would bring him a real one. So, when a mix up in the North Pole lands Christmasaurus in William's home on Christmas Eve, the face-to-face encounter is startling to them both but an instant friendship is formed. An adventure begins with the two trying to get Christmasaurus home to the North Pole and Santa; on the way they make an unlikely friend and realize that believing in something is powerful. They are also being chased by the dastardly and evil Hunter, a renown marksmen who only hunts the most unique and rare creatures in the world. Black-and-white illustrations throughout. VERDICT The book starts slow; between the backstory of the Christmasaurus and the rhyming, singing elves, it takes a while to become invested in William's story; but in the end, it is a satisfying feel-good Christmas caper.-Lisa Nabel, Kitsap Regional Library, WA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

The new girl, Brenda, unrelentingly teases William about his wheelchair, something he has never felt self-conscious about. So all William wants for Christmas is a dinosaur. Little does he know, a few years ago Santa's elves found a strange egg which hatched the one-of-a-kind Christmasaurus! Imagine Will's surprise when he discovers a real-life dino in his room on Christmas Eve! In Will's nighttime quest to discover what kind of dino his new best friend is, the duo encounter a mysterious hunter who pursues only the rarest of rare creatures. With the help of Santa, Brenda, and William's dad, William and the Christmasaurus discover the true magic and meaning of the holidays. Fletcher's story runs a bit longer than necessary and overuses gibberish words, which could annoy some readers, but the story's strength lies in the adorable dino and William's mature acceptance of who he is as a disabled person, which does not hinder his adventures one bit. Overall, a sweet holiday story that would work well as a family read-aloud.--Lindsey Tomsu Copyright 2018 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A boy asks Santa for a dinosaur and gets a life-changing experience.Cribbing freely from any number of classic Christmas stories and films, musician/vlogger Fletcher places his 10-year-old protagonist, William, who uses a wheelchair, at the head of an all-white human cast that features his widowed dad, a girl bully, and a maniacal hunterplus a dinosaur newly hatched from an egg discovered in the North Pole's ice by Santa's elves. Having stowed away on Santa's sleigh, Christmasaurus meets and bonds with William on Christmas Eve, then, fueled by the power of a child's belief, flies the lad to the North Pole ("It's somewhere between Imagination and Make-Believe") for a meeting with the jolly toymaker himself. Upon his return William gets to see the hunter (who turns out to be his uncle) gun down his dad (who survives), blast a plush dinosaur toy to bits, and then with a poster-sized "CRUNCH! GULP!" go down Christmasaurus' hatch. In the meantime (emphasis on "mean"), after William spots his previously vicious tormenter, Brenda Payne, crying in the bushes, he forgives trespasses that in real life would have had her arrested and confined long ago. Seemingly just for laffs, the author tosses in doggerel-speaking elves (" If it's a girl, can we call her Ginny?' / I think it's a boy! Look, he's got a thingy!' ") and closes with further lyrics and a list of 10 (secular) things to love about Christmas. Devries adds sugary illustrations or spot art to nearly every spread.Reads like a grown-up's over-the-top effort to peddle a set of kid-friendly premisesa notion that worked for the author's The Dinosaur That Pooped a Planet (2017), but not here. (Fantasy. 9-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.