Dinotopia: a read for all ages

Growing up, I shared a room with my two younger brothers, and we didn’t get a lot of sleep. No big deal—kids need much less sleep than our parents think we do.  The one thing that kept us up more than anything was building nests out of our blankets. We did this almost every night, and once our nests were built we occasionally curled up in them as birds, but more often as pterodactyls. (Fun fact about the blogger: I’m famous for my pterodactyl squawk.)  Why pterodactyls? Because we had been inspired by one of the most amazing worlds that has ever been imagined: Dinotopia.

James Gurney’s original book, “Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time” is hands down the greatest book for children and adults alike.  My father first read it to us when we were in elementary school, and still every time I read it, I am transported to a world where humans and dinosaurs exist side by side, blending their cultures, and having incredible adventures.

The Plot: a Victorian-era British scientist, Arthur Dennison, and his son Will are shipwrecked and rescued from the waves by dolphins.  They find themselves on an island which has remained isolated from the world by an impassible coral reef.  The inhabitants of the island are the descendents of other ship-wrecked humans from all around the world, and of course the dinosaurs who have lived there for thousands of years.  The book is set up as Arthur’s diary, and he tells of their discoveries and the friends they make (human and dinosaur alike) as they travel over the incredible island to find their place in the new world they cannot leave. 

Gurney’s illustrations are probably the best part.  He is detailed and imaginative, and I still get a thrill every time I see the pages on Waterfall City and Treetown.  A word of caution:  It’s not a short read.  We read a few pages every night, but it was a lot like reading a standard chapter book.  You don’t even have to read the whole thing to little kids—it’s just as fun to look at the illustrations and make up your own stories about them.  Regardless of how you choose to experience Dinotopia, it is a magical experience. 

Treetown

Waterfall City

Hallmark made a mini-series about Dinotopia, so if you want to go even farther, you can check it out at the library or Blockbuster.  I watched it once, and thought it was pretty good.  It’s a different story: different characters, different problems, and even a different time period, but still a lot of the same elements are there. Here’s the trailer (posted below)-- it’s not rated but I don’t remember it being too scary (though it probably is too much for really young kids) and I think the romance is clean.  Gurney wrote two other books about Dinotopia, and then allowed any writer to use the island as long as they changed the characters, so I know there is a plethora of other Dinotopia reading material if you enjoy this one (and I’m betting that you will).