I grew up seeing THE FLINTSTONES as they premiered, yet my own sons know about them from the Cartoon Channel on TV. The Flintstones are still popular. This first book in The Oodlethunks series brought back so many memories of The Flintstones.
It is set in the paleo era. The mother has a job at an advertising agency while her husband is a stay at home father who loves to cook and try out new recipes. The children go to school were they practice ‘Intimidation Tactics’, ‘Grunts and Bellows’, have ‘Show and Yell’, Tall Tales, and art class.
Oona finds a gigantic orphan egg on her way home. How will it survive? Oona has a plan, because she wants a pet. He parents will let her keep the egg until it hatches and then will decide if Oona will be able to keep it. “Dad warned…’what you can’t eat might eat you.’ ” (16 ) Oona and her friend Erma make a nest habitat for the egg. Oona’s younger brother, Bonk, wants to take it to school for Show and Yell, but Oona says no. While Oona is away with dad at the Valley Market, Bonk trades the egg for Bruce Brutes’ bracelet, so he’ll have something to show at school. Oona forces Bonk to help her get the egg back from Bruce in the middle of the night. They find Bruce in the middle of his family’s pastures. The egg begins to hatch a baby stegosaurus.
” ‘This is crazy! Stegs are extinct around here!’ yelped Bruce. ‘Aren’t they?’
‘Dinosaurs haven’t been seen on Mount Urp since olden days,’ said Bonk.
‘We’re seeing one now. Guess this dinosaur is from new-en days,’ I said. ‘And she’s mine.’
‘Correction. She’s mine,’ said Bruce. ‘Cave law, remember. Speckles was born on my property.’ ” (122-123)
Soon both sets of parents arrive and suggest Oona and Bruce each call the baby steg. The person the steg comes to, keeps it. Oona wins.
Readers will enjoy the contrasting mix ups of modern with the old, sending humor throughout the book. Illustrator Mike Wu’s sepia toned illustrations give the book yet another feeling of olden days. Mike Wu has worked for both Walt Disney and “Pixar, where he animated such Oscar winners as The Incredibles and Toy Story 3 …”
Includes seven pages from book #2.