Riddle of the Raptors

by Steve Cole

Book Overview

Many people believe that the dinosaurs were big, stupid, lumbering reptiles that were wiped out millions of years ago when a massive asteroid hit the Earth. They couldn't be more wrong.Dinosaurs had... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099472945
• ISBN13: 9780099472940
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Red Fox
• Length: 108 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

StegTrek - First of a series of excellent 'dinosaurs in space' sci-fi books aimed at preteen boys

My son (10) isn't very good at reading, so I read these Astrosaurs books to him at bedtime. He really enjoyed them and so we have bought all of the series (8 books at present) to encourage him to like books as much as his Playstation 2, TV and DVD's. Most books we have are shared with his 12 year old sister, so he appreciated a good book aimed at young boys. The sci-fi stories are quite good (we are Dr Who, StarWars, and New Captain Scarlet fans) and you get the boys top favourite (dinosaurs) thrown in as well. The only problem with them is that Steve Cole can't write them quick enough - and the SciFi content of the stories is improving with each new book. The series follows the space adventures of a troupe of vegetarian dinosaurs (they escaped the meteor hit 50 million years ago by leaving Earth in spaceships). Captain Teggs and his crew, Gypsy, Arx and Iggy are no ordinary dinosaurs - they are Astrosaurs! They fly through space in the Dinosaur Space Service starship, the DSS Sauropod, keeping the peace in the vegetarian sector of the Jurassic Quadrant. They also patrol the neutral VegMeat zone to defend against the inhabitants of the notorious Carnivore Sector. Plus they are explorers, who boldly go where no fern chewing reptile has boldly gone before. This is the first book of the excellent series. In order the books are Riddle of the raptors, The hatching horror, The seas of doom, The mind swap menace, The skies of fear, The space ghosts, Day of the dino-driods, and The terror bird trap. In this book newly promoted Teggs and his crew are transporting the sector's top vegetarian athletes to the Great Dinosaur Games at Planet Olympus. Suddenly a Raptor Deathship appears and attacks the DSS Sauropod, and a Raptor boarding party kidnapps two of the best athletes. But there's more to the Raptors' plot than meets the eye, so can Captain Teggs solve their rascally riddle in time? Like the rest of the series, the book it is suitably tense in places for little ones. They are best read in order. My son says 'Like the other books it was cool, I liked the characters and the pictures (the reading books are filled many good line drawing illustrations). I also liked the cut-out cards at the front' (in our UK version, probably not present in the US book)". I would think the books would suit any pre-teen boy older than four, who appreciates space travel (probably up to age 12). I also enjoyed reading them out loud. There are surprisingly few good books aimed squarely at young boys about, so highly recommended. Also try 'The tentacled terror', 'Horrid Henry', 'Seriously silly stories', `The demon headmaster', 'Dinotopia - a land apart' and the 'Captain Underpants' series of books.