Raptor
Product description Book by Paul Zindel From School Library Journal Gr 6 Up-Soap star L. J. Ganser delivers a suitably histrionic reading of Paul Zindel's novel (Hyperion, 1998). After his paleontologist father is mysteriously attacked in an abandoned silver mine in Utah, Zack and Uta, his Ute schoolmate, investigate. In a surefire amalgam of Jurassic Park and The Enormous Egg, the two teens take home a dinosaur egg that soon hatches. Moments later, mad, mean, and hungry, mother raptor shows up for her baby, already named Honker and bonded with Zack. Throw in vivid and perfectly gory descriptions of evisceration, beheadings, mutilation, stock characters (wise Indian grandmother, evil scientist, plucky teens), and a rapidly moving cinematic plot, and enjoy the ride.-C.A. Prevetti, Milwaukee Public Library, WI Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From AudioFile Zindel writes his young adult novel as a fast-paced, action-adventure, capitalizing on the craze for dinosaurs. The teenaged leads are sincere, angst-ridden blunderers who march into the monsters' lair with no backup, no weaponry, no coherent plan. The listener can't decide whether to laugh or cry over the vacuum in rational motivation and the ridiculous underlying premises. The reader, however, gives it all he's got. Ganser has a young-sounding voice and uses it to full effect, with snarls and pacing and accent delineating the various characters. (Too bad about the book itself.) D.R.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine