T-REX 4: Peril in the Amazon

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“Many noble tigers were killed that day by the flashing talons that
had sliced through their hides and muscle and bone. Despite their
courage and fierce love of battle, seeing their pride members cut down
by such a deadly foe crushed their spirits as well as their striped
bodies. But, limping off back into the jungle, bloodied and bowed, there
were telltale signs that they had pierced the defences of the world’s
most powerful killer. Their teeth told the story. Curved and sharp, like
the sword of a samurai, their teeth were stained with the dark red blood
of a dinosaur whose kind had died off more than sixty-five million years
ago. A single dinosaur had been brought back to the present by a twelve
year old boy who had found its egg in the melt water of an ancient
iceberg. Raising it from a defenceless hatchling, a powerful bond of
friendship had formed between boy and beast. That boy now carried a
furrowed brow on his face as he examined the neck wounds on his towering
friend.”

The above paragraph, taken from the last book of this five-volume
series by W. Howard Stuart, nicely encapsulates the whole collection.
Each book is built around two main characters, a boy named Nathan and
his pet tyrannosaur, Rex. In tone and content, Stuart has borrowed
liberally from mid–20th-century fantasy fiction, comic books and
B-movies. Unfortunately, the one thing he could not borrow is writing
style. Clichés, clunky metaphors, and science bloopers abound. Like
King Kong on his home island, Rex regularly does battle with
long-extinct animals spanning 200 million years of evolution. There are
human villains (with names like Boris) whose blind greed invariably
leads to their comeuppance. There are too many sentences like “[t]hat
boy now carried a furrowed brow on his face.”

On the back cover of each book in the series are testimonials from
teachers, librarians, or young readers who claim that Stuart’s books
have managed to entice chronic nonreaders to finally pick up a book.
This is quite possible. The print is large. Each chapter is spiked with
at least one full-page comic-book-style black-and-white illustration. If
nothing else, Stuart has successfully tapped into that subconscious love
all young children have for things large and mock-dangerous (e.g.,
monster trucks, professional wrestlers, and, of course, pet dinosaurs).
Finally, Stuart’s tales have an old-fashioned morality that many
parents will find appealing; behind that toothy scowl, Rex is really
Lassie in lizard-drag—a loyal, lovable lunk who stands for truth,
justice, and the American way. Not a first-choice purchase.