Monday 17 December 2012

Jack's Mega Machines - The Dinosaur Digger by Alison Ritchie and Mike Byrne (Simon and Schuster Children's Books)














When ace mechanic Jack gets something to repair in his magic workshop, great adventures happen! We've already thrilled to the intergalactic thrills and spills of a superb race in "Jack's Mega Machines - The Rocket Racing Car" (which nabbed a well deserved Book of the Week award) so what's next for Jack and his faithful doggy sidekick? A trip back through time to the land of the DINOSAURS!

Jack has a digger in for repair, but this is no ordinary digger - and as he takes it through the doors of his magical workshop for a test drive, soon it's transformed into the Dinosaur Digger! A huge wheeled behemoth fit to take on just about any terrain, and armed with a handy scoop should Jack feel the need to dig a ditch or two while he's there.

Spotting a mini dinosaur stampede, Jack wonders why the baby dinosaurs are taking to their heels until he spots a terrifying T Rex, intent on bagging itself some tasty dino snacks for dinner.

Jack races to the rescue, but will the Dinosaur Digger be a match for the king of the dinosaurs himself?

Just like "The Rocket Racing Car" this is a fast paced story packed with thrills and spills, and once again you get a fantastic fold-out card model of The Dinosaur Digger to play with while you read (and once again we had the devil's own job extracting the model from the book - that sticky stuff just did not want to give way and again we lost a smidge of the model's external 'paintwork' prying it out of the book, gah!)

Fantastic colourful illustrations by Mike Byrne keep things nicely energetic. Though it's mainly pitched at boys, Charlotte absolutely loved this just like she loved "The Rocket Racing Car" and demanded it again once we'd finished reading it (so how about swapping one of those boys on the back cover for a girl next time?)

Charlotte's best bit: The cute baby dinosaurs - How could the nasty T Rex consider eating them?

Daddy's favourite bit: A great little model - the more of these I see, the more they remind me of mini kid-friendly Carmageddon models! Brilliant stuff!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Simon and Schuster Children's Books)