Rex

Rating:
Summary: Exciting young adult novel - Very highly recommended
Review: A sudden earthquake sends paleontologists into a crack in the earth, leaving the scientific community and loved ones to presume their death. Their eleven-year-old son Davy is staying with his grandmother when he receives the unwelcome news. But without proof, Davy refuses to believe his parents are dead. Then his parent's personal effects arrive, including an unexpected surprise.

Author Fred Yager pens an exciting adventure young readers will revel in REX: A NOVEL. This dinosaur in New York achieves a comedic success even as Rex and Davy outrun evil scientists in a quest for survival. The dinosaur is surprisingly intelligent and loyal, giving him a unique characterization among young adult fiction. A fast paced read filled with friendship and danger, excitement and surprises, REX comes very highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: It's a Page Turner
Review: As a mature adult, I'm embarrassed to say, that I loved Rex and couldn't put it down. What a wonderful novel! Luckily, it was such smooth and fluid reading, that as I turned the pages to see what happened next, it only kept me up one night. As both a reader and a writer, I fully appreciate what an accomplishment it was to create something that works so well as a whole. The characters truly come to life and the plot keeps you turning the pages.

Rating:
Summary: A Young Boy Gets a Very Old Friend
Review: Fred Yager's novel for children, "Rex", is just the right ticket for youngsters in the thrall of their dinosaur phase. It's a fast-moving fantasy with one foot in the real world of animal biology and the other in the field of interpersonal relations. In other words, it's both educational and adventuresome, good for boys approaching their teen-age years. But this story of a boy and his dinosaur friend is also perfect bedtime reading for parents. Each chapter has an ending that is certain to send younger children off to sweet dreams.

Rating:
Summary: An imaginative novel for children
Review: Review: REX, by Fred Yager

REX is the story of a boy, his dinosaur, and their efforts to outwit an evil paleontologist bent upon selling Rex (the dinosaur) to a collector of rare animals. In the middle of this action is the underlying mystery of what really happened to Davy's parents (also paleontologists) on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

REX is Fred Yager's first young adult novel, and is really more of an adventure than a mystery. It's fast-paced and enjoyable - I laughed out loud several times while reading it. Once the reader has accepted the premise of a dinosaur living in New York (this is not very difficult) and the theory that dinosaurs were smarter than I was raised to believe (a LOT smarter, in fact), this story will move you right along.

Mr. Yager is a screenwriter, and that is sometimes evident in his writing. There are a few passages, especially when Rex the dinosaur first appears, that don't so much create a mental picture for the reader as attempt to describe what's going on, in a way that doesn't really help you see it. However, other parts, like Davy's wrestling matches between WWF action figures and dinosaur figures, work extremely well. My favourite part involvs the villain, a rogue paleontologist known mostly as "the Professor," who interrupts his pursuit of Davy and Rex to correct factual errors in an exhibit of mechanical dinosaurs.

Underlying the adventurous fun of the story, which naturally escalates as Rex gets bigger and harder to hide (it's no picnic trying to keep your grandmother from finding out about the Tyrannosaurus in your bedroom), is Davy's conviction that his missing parents are alive somewhere and trying to get home. That longing is loosely tied to the story of another character, Gretchen, whose family life is also pretty lonely. Eventually, of course, the various threads of the story are drawn together in a compelling conclusion, in which All Is Revealed. Good triumphs and evil is punished in a satisfactory fashion.

REX would probably be best introduced as a read-aloud. A good dramatic reader could act as an intermediary in the places where the story reads like a screenplay instead of a novel. And young readers will certainly want to illustrate their favourite parts. The discussion of dinosaur family life alone should make for lively sessions in classrooms and living rooms. I am looking forward to the next novel by Mr.Yager.

Rating:
Summary: A charming and heartwarming story
Review: Rex: A Novel by Fred Yager is an exciting adventure for young readers about a unique friendship and childhood bonding experience between a young boy named Davy, and Rex - a creature that has been long thought extinct on our world. A charming and heartwarming story, that belies a lifelong love of dinosaurs, Rex is a true joy to read and a welcome addition to family, school, and community library collections. Rex is also available in a trade paperback format...

Rating:
Summary: A Young Boy Gets a Very Old Friend
Review: What would a boy do if he received an egg and a baby tyrannosaurus rex appeared when it hatched? That is the delightful problem that Davy has in this enchanting book. What do you feed it? What adaptations need to be made as it grows? How would you keep it and everyone else safe?

Davy's parents are archeologists that disappear in Africa. When their possessions are sent back to the family, Davy is given his mother's music box which accidentally has the egg hidden in it. For contrast, there is also the evil archeologist, Professor Berenson that is fairly certain that Davy has this creature while attempting to force Davy to give the dinosaur to him. The adventures develop friendships, trusts, and even include professional wrestling.

REX is such a humorous and lovable character that I found myself wanting to be a part of the story. Davy is a believable 6th-grade student that has problems very typical for his age. The weakest character was the grandmother which I found to be rather inattentive and often disinterested. The other supporting characters were very well established with each one having their own distinct personality.

The book is very fast-paced and constantly made me wonder how each situation was going to be resolved. The reading level is at about the 6th grade and definitely a book that would interest boys. I plan to read this with my class of 5th-grade students since this is very picturesque and has the high action level for students of that age. This is a fun book that everyone should read, adult and child alike.

Teri Davis

Rating:
Summary: REX, the delightful
Review: What would a boy do if he received an egg and a baby tyrannosaurus rex appeared when it hatched? That is the delightful problem that Davy has in this enchanting book. What do you feed it? What adaptations need to be made as it grows? How would you keep it and everyone else safe?

Davy's parents are archeologists that disappear in Africa. When their possessions are sent back to the family, Davy is given his mother's music box which accidentally has the egg hidden in it. For contrast, there is also the evil archeologist, Professor Berenson that is fairly certain that Davy has this creature while attempting to force Davy to give the dinosaur to him. The adventures develop friendships, trusts, and even include professional wrestling.

REX is such a humorous and lovable character that I found myself wanting to be a part of the story. Davy is a believable 6th-grade student that has problems very typical for his age. The weakest character was the grandmother which I found to be rather inattentive and often disinterested. The other supporting characters were very well established with each one having their own distinct personality.

The book is very fast-paced and constantly made me wonder how each situation was going to be resolved. The reading level is at about the 6th grade and definitely a book that would interest boys. I plan to read this with my class of 5th-grade students since this is very picturesque and has the high action level for students of that age. This is a fun book that everyone should read, adult and child alike.

Teri Davis