Dinotopia

Shipwrecked in the South Pacific, Arthur Denison and his young son Will find themselves rescued by dolphins and delivered to the lost island of Dinotopia in this gorgeously illustrated picture-book/novel. "A Land Apart from Time," according to the book's sub-title, Dinotopia is a hidden continent where dinosaurs never went extinct, are highly evolved and intelligent, and now live in a peaceful society together with the humans that have washed up on their shores over the centuries. Although their initial reaction is one of fear - Arthur, believing that he and Will are in danger, even strikes Bix, the gentle Protoceratops translator who later becomes their great friend, at the beginning of the story - eventually the Denisons adjust to show more life in this strange new world. They travel first to Waterfall City, where they spend a few years learning about Dinotopia, before they continue on to Canyon City, where Will trains become a Skybax rider - a human who rides the flying dinosaurs, Quetzalcoatlus Skybax - and Arthur becomes fascinated by the "world beneath" the canyons. Eventually Arthur sets off on a voyage into the subterranean world beneath Dinotopia, while Will continues his training. The two are reunited in the Dinotopian capital, Sauropolis, but the implication is that Arthur's further travels, only hinted at in the narrative here, will form the basis for the sequel, Dinotopia: The World Beneath.

Originally published in 1992, Dinotopia was an instant success, launching a series of children's novels set in its fantastic world, as well as two television series based upon it. It also started a trend in which extended picture-book/novels became (for a time) quite popular, with three more Dinotopia stories in this format, as well as Betty Ballantine's The Secret Oceans, and James Christensen's Voyage of the Basset. Although long aware of Dinotopia - I have owned an edition of the book for years - I never happened to pick it up until I ran across the new special edition put out recently by Calla Books. I'm glad I finally gave it a chance, as I found it an immensely engaging story, one which, with both text and image, drew me into its imaginative world. Part travelogue, part fantasy, part picture-book, it is all magic, and is sure to leave readers young and old wanting more. I enjoyed poring over the beautiful illustrations, enjoyed the story, and had no sooner finished than I wanted to start the sequel, which I will now have to track down. The special edition that I read contains additional material - an introduction by Michael Patrick Hearn, an afterword from author/artist James Gurney, including sketches and unused artwork - and makes the story available to readers once again. Recommended to all dinosaur lovers, young and old, and anyone who appreciates truly immersive works of fantasy. show less

It's a rare treat to read a book and be able to say with confidence that you've never read anything like it before. Children's books are fantastic, magical things that I appreciate for many reasons. I never would have expected one of those reasons to be world-building though. Gurney takes the playful premise of dinosaurs and humans coexisting and, like the best fantasists, goes many layers beyond the obvious implications to create a deep and satisfying world that feels real. His dedication to his world is laudable. He thought of everything, from dino fertilizer to a stunted reproduction rate that explains why the dinos haven't overrun the island in the relative absence of natural predators. Care is given to the culture, economy, show more ecology, and technology in equal measure.

Add gorgeous (and I mean gorgeous) illustrations on every page and text written convincingly in the style of a naturalist's travel journal and you have a one of a kind classic on your hands. This is one of those books that makes me think I would've fallen in love with reading far earlier than I did, had I been exposed to it as a child. Instead I got gifts of Harry Potter and Goosebumps and was turned off of reading until my late teens. C'est la vie. show less

Dinotopia is a lavishly illustrated picture-book-for-adults set on an island where dinosaurs and people of all races and cultures live in peace together. The book itself, though, was written with the conceit that it's a reproduction of the journal of a Victorian naturalist who was marooned on the island in the late 19th century - he has a naturalist's interest in everything around him, but especially the natural world, and trained scientific perception. The illustrations in the book every so often go over to precise botanical watercolors (and if I ever get to where I can to botanical illustrations like that, I will be satisfied with my skill as an artist.) And because the time and the place the book came out of, it has a very ecological show more sensibility overall.

The sequels to the book get increasingly steampunky, which is why I still love the first one best: I fell in love with it as a child, I think, not for the dinosaurs, but for the way it treats with nature, observation, and finding a balance between a scientific perspective and an organic one. (My favorite character of all was the young girl Melanie, who knew all the plants in the forest and would take the naturalist main character on walks to teach him about them. I still want to be her.) show less

In the year 1860, biologist and explorer Arthur Denison and his son, Will, set out on a sea voyage of discovery and adventure. When a powerful typhoon wrecks the ship in uncharted waters, Arthur and Will are the sole survivors. Washed ashore on a strange island called Dinotopia, they are amazed to find a breathtaking world where cities are built on waterfalls, people have found new ways to fly, and humans and dinosaurs live together in harmony. With new discoveries at every turn, Arthur and Will embark upon their own separate journeys to unearth the mysteries of Dinotopia. Source: GoodReads

Summary

Dinotopia is a wonderfully illustrated book about a world where dinosaurs live in harmony with humans. The book starts off with a father and his son, saved by the dolphins, shipwrecked on a beach. They soon find out that this beach is part of an island which supports the life of dinosaurs. For the first half of the book our narrator is Arthur Denison, father of Will Denison, who, with the help of his son, discovered a group of dinosaurs and is led to "The Egg Hatchery" by a girl named Sylvia. The book then shows some of it's amazing illustrations of The Egg Hatchery's various items/appliances such as the; guest bed, the "dinosaur nannies", and the Hatchery itself. After this, Arthur and Will leave after their short stay at The show more Egg Hatchery to go to Waterfall City, where they must go to to register their arrival and learn about this Dinotopia. Along the way they stop at a city called Pooktook, which yet again has a beautiful illustration of the city's streets and other little parts of the city. Arthur and Will then meet Lee Crabb, who believes that Dinotopia is a prison and a "terrible place". He takes them to the town of Volcanium where they meet Tok, who also believes that Dinotopia is a prison. There, they also meet a Skybax Rider, who informs them that Waterfall City is ready to welcome them. After seeing the Skybax Rider, Will was determined to become one. They are accompanied to Waterfall city by Bix, a Protoceratops. Once getting to the city, they learn so much more about the Dinotopian culture. Will even learned the Dinotopian alphabet. After two years living in Waterfall City, Arthur and Will decided to leave for Treetown for the annual journey to the Habitat Conference. It took a week to prepare for the journey. They then met the leaders of the various areas of Dinotopian territory, such as, Oolu and Lightwing, Bracken and Fiddlehead, and Moraine and Bigtusk to name a few. After the convention they continued north to Treetown where they stayed for a while. Will decided he wanted to compete in the Dinosaur Olympics, held each year in a settlement called Cornucopia. Will won with his trio of, himself, Sylvia, and Claw (a Deinocheirus). This victory ensured their going to Canyon City to become Skybax Riders. Soon after this they departed for Canyon City. The book then illustrates the chasm-like city of Canyon City at a great angle, showing the extent of how long this canyon goes. Will is then taught by Oolu how to fly. While in a lesson, Oolu spoke of a "World Beneath" which intrigued Arthur very much. Arthur then set out to go to the "World Beneath" shortly after, while Will continued his Skybax training. The Narrator then switches to Will, as Arthur is in the "World Beneath". Will, to complete his Skybax training, must climb the mountains in search of "The Tentpole of the Sky". Sylvia accompanied him, as she is also seeking to become a Skybax Rider. After setting off, they made it to a village "shared by humans and large mammals" which was their first goal. After another long day of climbing, they finally made it to the "Tentpole" and met a man named Levka Gambo, who took them inside to rest for a few days. Afterwards they boarded the Sky Galley, an airship that supplies the "Tentpole", to get back home to Canyon City. Because of the rough weather, the Sky Galley crashed and they had to head to Sauropolis, the nearest city. One of the officials of the city approached Will and Sylvia, informing them that Arthur and Bix were here. She showed them the vessel Arthur and Bix came from, which was a primitive submarine. Once their Skybaxes came back for them, they flew to Waterfall City, where they met up with Bix and Arthur and recollected their separate adventures.

My Opinions

This was a great read for me, as I really love "what if" scenarios made into stories. Of course, similar to all reviews of this book, I thought the illustrations were beautiful. The art really helped to immerse the reader and was remarkably creative. The story was pretty good, but it was only solidified more by the illustrations (how many times am I going to say illustrations in this review?) which really fleshed out the world that the book showed us. The characters, unlike the story, were very bland, you probably could replace them with cardboard boxes and the book would be pretty much the same. However, this book certainly had it's main focus on the world it created and not the characters, who were really just the readers' eyes in this world. When I checked, there were many more books expanding and building upon the foundation this book laid for this universe, so I'm hoping that even more of this world is explored than it just being more of the same thing. Overall, this was a good book, I would recommend it to anybody looking for some interesting ideas and places, and it get's a 4/5 because it's good but could be better. show less

It seems like forever since I read this book, but the illustrations absolutely left a lasting effect on me. Adults and children were passing this book around, I remember seeing this book at a friend of my parents's house, and the adults were all like 'check this out, kids! It's awesome!' So we looked at it too and it really IS an awesome book!

My parents gave this book to me when I was a child and it was one of the most mesmerizing reads I ever had the thrill of enjoying.

When I found out that HBO made a live action tv series "very loosely" based on the book, I became riled because they made the story in our modern time and it lacked all of the magic of the book.

Getting back to the actual book, the story of two castaway humans that ended up stranded in a strange island where humans live with dinosaurs in harmony was interesting, but the artwork that made the story come to life is what compelled me to give it 5 solid stars.

If you want to encourage your child to get into reading, this book would be a great gift.