How To Tame A Triceratops (& Giveaway)

Will Dare’s How To Tame A Triceratops takes us into a world where it’s common for kids to ride dinosaurs. Sounds fun, right? Not if your dinosaur is aptly named “Plodder.”Josh Sanders lives in the Lost Plains, where his family has an iguanodon ranch. He rides his slow, but reliable, gallimimus Plodder to round up the iguanodons in the morning and to get to school. But he would really love a faster dinosaur!

Josh’s friends are sympathetic to his dino troubles, but bully Amos Wilks takes great joy in teasing Josh about Plodder. Amos rides a fast, mean, club-tailed ankylosaurus named Clubber.

At school, Josh is daydreaming about faster dinosaurs when his teacher announces the one-hundredth anniversary celebration of the Trihorn settlement in the Lost Plains. To Josh’s great interest, as part of the celebration, the town is going to have a dino race. The first prize trophy will be presented by Josh’s hero, the wildest dino rider in the Lost Plains, Terrordactyl Bill!

Josh has to win the race, but he knows he can’t win on Plodder. In fact, the Deputy Mayor won’t even let him sign up with Plodder as his ride. Josh must find another dino to ride if he wants to win the race.

A few days later, Josh’s parents send him to trade a couple of iguanodons for a new “roundup horse” like Plodder. Josh decides he is going to buy a racing dino instead. But, like Jack and the cow he traded for a few magic beans, Josh never makes it to market. On the path to market, Josh runs into a man with a strange accent who claims to be looking for some iguanodons and is willing to trade his triceratops for Josh’s dinos.

Even though he is suspicious (a triceratops is worth more iguanodons than he has for sale), Josh makes the trade. He soon discovers why the man was willing to part with his “fine” triceratops, Charge, at such a bargain.

When Josh tries to lead Charge home, the triceratops just puts his head down and starts eating grass. He flops down on the ground and yawns. Josh learns that Charge is considered untrainable—and he has less than a week to figure out how to train him so he is ready for the race.

How To Tame A Triceratops opens with an exciting first chapter and hooks kids right away (as if dinosaurs weren’t enough!). The writing is fast-paced and full of laughter and adventure.

Josh and his enemy Amos are a great pair, antagonizing each other but not becoming so negative as to spoil the book. They and the other kids in the book are realistically-written (for kids who ride dinos, that is) and a pleasure to read.

As part of this blog tour, the publisher is giving away two bundles of the first two Dino Riders books – How To Tame A Triceratops and How To Rope A Giganotosaurus! Enter here.

Enjoy what the publisher has to say about the book:

Welcome to The Lost Plains!

A wild west frontier where dinosaurs never went extinct.

Josh Sanders wants to be the next great dinosaur cowboy! Ropin’ raptors and ridin’ bucking brontosauruses just like his hero Terrordactyl Bill.

Too bad he’s stuck working on his family’s Iguanodon ranch, riding his ancient dino, Plodder. The closest Josh has ever been to a T-Rex is reading about them in his Dino Cowboy Handbook.

To prove he has what it takes, Josh is determined to win the annual Settlement Race. But he’s gonna need one fast dino to stand a chance. With the help of his friends Sam and Abi, Josh will need to tame a wild Triceratops!

This wildly entertaining new chapter book series for ages 7 and up features exciting illustrations and real dino facts! A great way to get kids reading. And don’t miss the next book in the series: How to Rope a Giganotosaurus.

Have you read any great books lately?

DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!!!