Daniel José Older Visits September 11th

That's me on the left.


Older drew a dinosaur for this owner of a new book

Happy Book Birthday to the Dactyl Hill Squad!The author of this book, Daniel José Older, spent the morning of his book's birthday to explain to the 6th and 7th graders why they should read about Magdalys and her friends. Many authors are genre-bending these days, and this book really pushes the envelope by mixing a story about the American Civil War period in New York with dinosaurs. These dinosaurs are not man-eaters. They have been harnessed by the people for transportation and to move goods and materials. This may seem far fetched, but it does work. Older weaves historical accuracies into his fictional story to make for a bit of fun along with some history.

All 6th and 7th grade attended the presentation

Older works the crows

The students were most interested in where he got his idea for the book and how long it took him to write it. It took three weeks! This first in the series takes place mostly in Brooklyn, but in book two, which comes out in spring of 2019, has the characters traveling to New Orleans. With the story moving to our backyard, I know the kids are going to be anxiously waiting for its book birthday. You can visit the PFTSTA Library website to see lots more pictures of the day. 



We want to thank Octavia Books and Arthur A. Levine Publishers for making this event possible. 

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