Mo O'Hara

Mo O'Hara, creator of the popular My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish chapter-book series, turns to Shakespeare in this entertaining new picture-book, and the results are hilarious. As the great bard himself wrote (sort of): "Ne're a tale made a child laugh more / Than Juliet Rex and her Romeosaur..." The tale of star-crossed friends, this dinosaur-friendly romp follow the eponymous characters as they attempt to bridge the divide between herbivores and carnivores...

Although her chapter-books do very show more well at work, I have never happened to pick any up any of them, so Romeosaurus and Juliet Rex was my first exposure to Mo O'Hara's work. What a wonderful and wicked sense of humor she has - I chuckled aloud on more than one occasion, while reading this one! The accompanying artwork by Australian illustrator Andrew Joyner is colorful and cute, although I didn't find it quite as entertaining as the text. Recommended to anyone looking for amusing new picture-book romps, especially those featuring dinosaurs and/or Shakespearean themes. show less

Knew this was going to be a weird ride when it began with a little brother being a bratty kid and mishearing hormonal as "home-moanal" then saying "he's been moaning a lot" because that is hilarious on so many levels adult and child.

From there it's a quick read, Tom comes off autistic in ways, as he displays a weird amount of literal thinking. Finger sandwiches don't have fingers in them. Dead meat is well, dead meat. On the double he expects a clone of his friend to appear. And so forth. show more It's clear he has either a wild imagination or signs of early autism like some autistic kids possess.

I expected Frankie to be evil, given he's born from an evil science experiment, but rather, he's simply a fish, albeit one who can hypnotize.

Seeing there's more of these books, I just might try to read past this one. They're fast reads, providing a swift plot with bare bones included, but it's a ride regardless. show less

When Tom’s older brother brings his goldfish back from the brink of death—with evil scientist experiments—the fish doesn’t just survive… it comes back as a zombie goldfish with hypnotic powers. What follows is a goofy, fast-paced adventure full of pranks, danger, hyperbolic humor, and cartoon-style chaos.

Summary:
The main character Tom has an older brother who decides to become an evil scientist. His brother, Mark, has a school experiment which he decides to use a goldfish for. The fish Frankie is exposed to the toxicity of the experiment, and dies. Being the character Tom is, he uses a battery in hopes that Frankie will come back to life and when he does, he isn't the same fish anymore..he is a ZOMBIE fish!

Personal Reaction:
My son comes home with these books he gets from his school library show more and he is always talking about how great they are. Well he certainly has a sense of humor because this book is so funny! I found myself laughing out loud on the first page from the humor of the sibling rivalry and how Tom refers to his brother Mark as evil. I think it is cute because I can see the reactions of Mark and Tom in both my two older boys, as well as relate to it back in my childhood between my younger brother and myself.

Class Extension Ideas:
1. The class can conduct an experiment on pollution after reading the story.
2. Do a pet show and tell. Students can bring a picture of their pets and after showing them to the class, they can do an activity where they write a short story about what their pets would do if they were zombies. show less