Synopsis
Six young friends become Time Soldiers when they stumble onto a secret time portal, leading them to an ancient world of dinosaurs and danger. The Time Soldiers fight to survive, escape the T. rex's fury, and make it home alive.
Sally J. K. Davies - Children's Literature
This book is a cross between a screen play for a Jurassic Park type movie and "The Magic Tree House" series of books. The premise is exciting. Six children find a time portal in the woods near their neighborhood which takes them back to the time of the dinosaurs. They film all the action on a video recorder that they just happen to bring with them. Unfortunately, upon returning home their video tape is stolen by a guy in a dark suit and sunglasses. The characters and plot are not well conceived but the book is certainly full of action. And despite the publisher's efforts with the dramatic photo collage illustrations, several pages have faces and important elements placed near the gutter or centerfold of the page, lessening the visual impact. On one double page spread, the close-up of the dinosaur's eye disappears all together, so all the reader sees are two pages of dinosaur skin. It seems that even within the pages of a children's book, the reader cannot escape blatant advertising. Just before the last page of the story, set within the text, the reader is shown a boxed advertisement for the next book in the series. It includes a web page address to find out about the next book. This title is part of the "Time Soldiers" series. 2005, Big Guy Books, Ages 6 to 10.