Follow That Tiny-Dactyl

Video-game creator Hansen mashes up dinosaurs, futuristic technology, extreme sports, and other ever-popular story elements in his first novel, which launches the Microsaurs series. Nine-year-old Danny seems destined for adventure: his father is an inventor for SpyZoom Technologies, and his best friend Lin Song is a “skateboarding daredevil.” While using SpyZoom Invisible Communicators to follow Lin during her qualifying run in the town’s Under 12 X-treme Games, Danny sees a small red-orange figure smash into its camera lens as she races down the ramp. Thanks to the GPS device that the mysterious creature, a tiny dinosaur, swipes from Lin’s helmet, the kids track the culprit to the junglelike lab of the oddball Professor Penfold, who cares for a cache of Microsaurs he rescued from Peru. Danny and Lin’s quest to retrieve the tracking device and return home in time for Lin’s championship run hits a snag after they are inadvertently shrunk down to the size of “very squashable” bugs. Hansen’s peppy cartoons provide an up-close look at all the smaller-than-life action in this high-energy escapade. Ages 7–10. Agent: Gemma Cooper, Bent Agency. (Jan.)