FernFolio

Ten year-old Lucas Clarke loves dinosaurs, so when he comes across a website advertising a dinosaur-making kit for $19.95, he digs out the last of his birthday money and sends away for it. Lucas is disappointed what arrives in the mail. The small test tube filled with a clear liquid seems to prove his mother’s warning that you never know what you’ll get when you order over the internet. But, when he’s ready to start the papier maché layer of his next dinosaur model, of a Stegosaurus, Lucas opens the test tube and adds a couple of drops of the liquid to his glue and water mixture, and what happens next shocks and delights him. When it is painted and dried, the Stegosaurus comes to life, and Lucas is thrilled to find himself the owner of a model-sized little herbivore who loves eating tender blades of new grass and crocus bulbs.
Unfortunately, Lucas’ experiences at school aren’t quite so happy. Since moving to the school over a year before, he has been the chief victim of the class bully, a nasty piece of work named Kyle. After a particularly unpleasant run in with him, Lucas decides to build a second dinosaur model, one that will help him get even with the bully. He chooses the most vicious feathered dinosaur he knows of, a sinornithosaurus, and labours hard to get the details exactly right. Lucas’ new model exceeds his expectations; perfect in every way, it is the best model of a dinosaur that he has ever made. But the new dinosaur rapidly proves to be more than Lucas can handle, and the instructions on the test tube that created it seem to suggest that he’s now got a problem for life!
Feather Brain is a fun and smart story about dinosaurs, bullies, and getting more than your wished for. A great book for students in Grades 4 to 6!
FernFolio Editor