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Summary: Back in print at last!
Review: Last year I bought a used copy of this book for $60, and considered it a bargin! I loved this book as a child and wanted to share it with my eight year old daughter in hopes that she would enjoy it as much as I did at her age. She does, and I'm hoping that the sequel, "The Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs" will also be reprinted.
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Summary: I want the other book!
Review: My family has a beat-up, sad-looking copy of this book. I really wish I could read the first one, because I read the second one about half a million times. The twins (Joey and Joan?) help an absent-minded professor find fossils, with a little help from the Stegosaurus himself. In the process, they even catch a crook!
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Summary: This book changed my life.......
Review: Strange, but if I were to pick the two books that have had the biggest influence on my life, this would be one of them--the other being The Brother Karamazov (but that's another review). I remember reading this book, just before my tenth birthday. The story was so dramatic, so moving (remember--I'm nine years old here), the characters so vivid--even though I knew it was fiction, that there really wasn't any stegosaurus (never mind a shy one who spoke english & wagged his tail like a dog), that after finishing it, I cried harder than I ever remember crying in my life. NOTE: The stegosaurus does not die--nobody dies. But somehow, that made it worse for me--The seemly imposible bind of a continued lonely existance for the stegosaurus: too shy to meet anyone, too social not to. So while I was unable to stop crying, barely able between the sobs to explain to my poor mother (a saint, believe me) the terrible agony of this non-existent dinosaur's life, refuting all of my mother's suggestions about what the stegosaurus might have done in his new life away from Cricket Creek, at the same time I knew I loved this book. This book was the first book that really touched me--a book that communicated real emotion, that moved me more than anything else ever had. A book about two kids and a talking dinosaur, written five years before I was born. I still love this book, because it was the first book that made me cry--and from that moment on, I knew I would always love books....because every once in awhile, they can make you cry about things that do not even exist. Would a hip hop happening kid of today like this book? I do not know. I still love it. I bought it for my nieces, but I think it was a little to square for them. But many kids today still read (and cry over) Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. So who knows... And while you are at it, read Sid Fleishman's Mr. Mysterious & Company. That book is even better than Shy Stegosaurus....
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Summary: Excellent fantasy book with more plot than usual for dinos!
Review: This book was a favorite of my brother. Every time we went to the library, we had to see if they had "George", that being the name of the dinosaur. It's plot concerns a single mom trying to make it on a ranch, and her two children who are trying to help her out. A living dinosaur, a shady real estate buyer, and a palentologist who can't see what's under his nose make this an intersting book, with plot twists and an ending that, while happy, shows that not everything works out perfectly. I highly recomend this book to anyone who has a dino crazed child and would like to expand their reading to include other genres. --Christy Minnis
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Summary: Should be in print
Review: This is one of those books I must have read a dozen times as a kid. Now that dinosaurs are so popular with children, someone shoud get it back into print.
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Summary: Fond memories of childhood
Review: What's amazing is that there are five other reviews here of this obscure children's book, which has to be almost 40 years old. One reviewer here recalls reading the book back in 1964, which is about the year I would have read it. And we all seem to have fond memories of reading this delightful book. This story about George the shy stegosaurus was one of the most entertaining children's books I (and apparently, all the other reviewers here, too) ever read, which, from the title, you might think we were all nuts. But back in the early 60's this was state-of-the-art for children's books, and it really was a great little book. It skillfully integrated a dinosaur theme with the story of the curious little brother and sister who discovered his hideaway, and things take off from there. I understand there are occasional rare, used copies available--but unfortunately they're not cheap. Lampman also wrote several other books, Rusty's Spaceship, one other shy stegosaurus book, The Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs, and The World Under the Back Steps. Rusty's Spaceship was another one of my favorites. In this book, Rusty and his alien friend, Tipia, go gallivanting around the solar system, having various adventures, before returning to earth, where they have a few more in their invisible spaceship. All these are great books for your kids. If you can find reasonably priced used copies, they're all worth picking up.
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