bethgiven's review against another edition
2.0
Nate lives in the small town of Freedom, New Hampshire, where his family raises chickens. At the beginning of the summer, one of the chickens lays an enormous egg ... and when it finally hatches, Nate has a new pet: a triceratops!
The tone of this book was fun and conversational, and I was more or less enjoying the first half as I read this aloud with my eight-year-old for Battle of the Books. But then entire chapters went by with not a lot happening; the dinosaur is hardly on-page at all. Instead we have pages and pages of legislative efforts by some crazy senators to exterminate Nate's pet triceratops. I'm all for political activism, but this felt like a bait-and-switch! We had to pause the story quite often so I could explain a lot of background to my confused third grader: how bills become law, what senators do, the three branches of government ... not to mention dated technology that I barely know anything about (telegrams and telephone operators).
I did like learning that there is an Uncle Beazley statue in the National Zoo. I guess this is a classic, but mostly it just made me appreciate the fun literature that are on our library shelves now.
The tone of this book was fun and conversational, and I was more or less enjoying the first half as I read this aloud with my eight-year-old for Battle of the Books. But then entire chapters went by with not a lot happening; the dinosaur is hardly on-page at all. Instead we have pages and pages of legislative efforts by some crazy senators to exterminate Nate's pet triceratops. I'm all for political activism, but this felt like a bait-and-switch! We had to pause the story quite often so I could explain a lot of background to my confused third grader: how bills become law, what senators do, the three branches of government ... not to mention dated technology that I barely know anything about (telegrams and telephone operators).
I did like learning that there is an Uncle Beazley statue in the National Zoo. I guess this is a classic, but mostly it just made me appreciate the fun literature that are on our library shelves now.
gmvader's review against another edition
3.0
This is a book that I gleaned much enjoyment from as a child. The thought of having a dinosaur hatch in my own backyard seemed to make perfect sense to me. The fact that it came from a chicken seemed perfectly reasonable. I don’t think anything else about the story mattered. Just that there was a dinosaur and I could spend hours imagining having my own dinosaur that I could ride around and talk to.
The story is somewhat weakened now by a number of factors. The most glaring of all is the fact that scientists no longer believe that the Triceratops existed. This has been happening with a number of dinosaurs that I learned about when I was little. I’m not really sure scientists know anything at all about dinosaurs anymore. That fact and the preposterousness that a millions-years-old genetic mutation would yield a healthy dinosaur from a chicken are all circumstantial to the fact that nothing happens. The story is all very idyllic and silly and lacks tension in any way. There are a few chapters where a senator is trying to get the dinosaur killed because he’s too expensive to feed and un-American. I think most senators would be laughed out of the building if they tried to make this a national issue. Beyond that there is no conflict of any kind.
I suspect that, despite its inconsistencies with modern scientific ‘knowledge’ this book would still be enthralling to children – especially the kind that like dinosaurs. It doesn’t hold up well for adults.
The story is somewhat weakened now by a number of factors. The most glaring of all is the fact that scientists no longer believe that the Triceratops existed. This has been happening with a number of dinosaurs that I learned about when I was little. I’m not really sure scientists know anything at all about dinosaurs anymore. That fact and the preposterousness that a millions-years-old genetic mutation would yield a healthy dinosaur from a chicken are all circumstantial to the fact that nothing happens. The story is all very idyllic and silly and lacks tension in any way. There are a few chapters where a senator is trying to get the dinosaur killed because he’s too expensive to feed and un-American. I think most senators would be laughed out of the building if they tried to make this a national issue. Beyond that there is no conflict of any kind.
I suspect that, despite its inconsistencies with modern scientific ‘knowledge’ this book would still be enthralling to children – especially the kind that like dinosaurs. It doesn’t hold up well for adults.
cvangogh's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jdo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
abe25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
readerofdafuk's review
3.0
I think that this book is very interesting. A triceratops that was hatched out of a hen's egg, that was cool, and all the people, scientists, and politicans want to either see it, or study it, or get rid of it. I thought that Nate was lucky to have a pet dinosaur. It is a good book for middle schoolers to read.
k_lee_reads_it's review
3.0
I read this as a read aloud with my younger boys. We all really enjoyed it.
cheryl6of8's review against another edition
4.0
A lovely story about an unexpected event and a boy's devotion to an unusual pet. The story was written in the 1950s and made into a film in the 1960s. Sadly the main cultural change I detected was that traffic on the National Mall never stops, so Nate would have a lot of witnesses if he tried to walk Uncle Beasley now. The politicians still have their heads up their butts. People are still desperate to exploit the unusual for an edge in business. Hopefully the tendency to be stirred to actiob by the thought of losing something has not been lost, in light of the leaked decision to overturn womens rights to bodily autonomy.
trike's review against another edition
5.0
I loved, loved, loved this book as a boy. The triceratops was (and still is) my favorite dino, and I first read this book on the family farm I stayed at every summer. My primary chore back then was to take care of the chickens, so the idea that a chicken would lay an egg that would hatch a triceratops felt like it was written just for me.
It is, of course, patently ridiculous, but Triceratops is technically a member of the ornithischian (“bird-hipped”) branch of dinosaurs, which is no doubt where Butterworth got the idea. Now, of course, we know that birds are descended from dinosaurs, but they are confusingly (and somewhat ironically) descended from the saurischian, or “reptile-hipped”, dinos. A more accurate version of this story would therefore have the chicken egg hatch a tiny T. rex or velociraptor. 🦖
I. Don’t. Care.
I want a triceratops to ride around on. 😄
It is, of course, patently ridiculous, but Triceratops is technically a member of the ornithischian (“bird-hipped”) branch of dinosaurs, which is no doubt where Butterworth got the idea. Now, of course, we know that birds are descended from dinosaurs, but they are confusingly (and somewhat ironically) descended from the saurischian, or “reptile-hipped”, dinos. A more accurate version of this story would therefore have the chicken egg hatch a tiny T. rex or velociraptor. 🦖
I. Don’t. Care.
I want a triceratops to ride around on. 😄
mslibrarynerd's review against another edition
1.0
This is not one of those classics that stands the test of time. It is full of weird gender stuff (girls do not like dinosaurs, only want to become telephone operators or homemakers) and old white scientists who smoke too much. The premise seems interesting, but the story is boring, takes too long to go anywhere and while the idea of a dinosaur is neat, there is no emotional attachment to the creature by Nate, only a sense of entitled ownership. I quit. boo.