Children’s Book Review: Amazing Adventures of Izi and Larry The Dinosaur

Title: Amazing Adventures of Izi and Larry The Dinosaur Author: Olusegun Akande Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Number of pages: 88 Type of Book: Fiction; Christian Age: 8+ Available here or contact the author: info@iziandlarrybooks.com Price: $15.00 MY SUMMARY Saturday is zoo day for 8-year-old Izi. She loves going to the zoo to visit the animals. One very ordinary Saturday Izi makes a new friend, Larry, a dinosaur with extraordinary powers. With his teensy head, long neck, huge body and enormous wings, Larry can travel through time. Together, every Saturday, Larry and Izi go on exciting adventures through different stories in the Bible and Izi learns several lessons about forgiveness, love, friendship and God, referred to in this book as ‘The Maker’. THUMBS UP AND DOWN UP: The book is beautifully illustrated. The illustrations will keep children turning the pages till the end. All in all, a satisfactory read. DOWN: Sometimes, the narrator switched from a child’s perspective to that of an adult: ‘His voice sounds like that of a distinguished and wise old man with a British accent’. Other times, he sounded way too old for an 8-year-old: ‘Izi ponders this for a while in the peaceful surroundings of the Garden’. The dialogue was protracted in some parts and there was a lot of ‘telling’ and not enough ‘showing’; but for the illustrations, a lot would be left to the reader’s imagination. There was no real conflict in the story, no problem that required solving. In so many ways it was didactic, a series of lessons. RATING 3.5 Stars TRIVIA 1. Who/What was Larry? A flying dinosaur. 2. What was Larry’s special power? He could travel back and forth through time! 3. This person roared, a roar so loud and scary that Izi almost fell off Larry’s back. Goliath, the giant. 4. ‘A tall green creature with a big round tummy, a long neck and a teensy little head.’ What was Izi describing? Larry 5. Why did Larry and Izi travel back and forth through time and how did they do it? They travelled through time so that Larry could teach Izi about God, the Maker using some stories in the Bible. Larry blew a bubble in the air, creating a transparent wall, then he made a plus sign in the wall and they flew right through it into the stories in the bible. 7. What was Larry’s only rule during their adventures? “Try not to touch anything” Read an excerpt of the book here. Visit Izi and Larry here. Next Book of the Week: The Time Machine by H. G. Wells