As I’m sure you’d expect, I read a lot of children’s books – and it’s about time I paid homage to two of the best series out there: Astrosaurs and Astrosaurs Academy by Steve Cole.
The initial Astrosaurs series takes the simple idea of dinosaurs in space (I’m not really kicking myself that I didn’t think of it first…) and builds an entire universe around it. While some people believe that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteor strike on the Earth millions of years ago, the truth is that the creatures had discovered space travel and vacated the planet long before the big pebble hit us. Now, the Dinosaur Space Service works hard to protect the peace-loving herbivore side of the galaxy safe from attack by the far nastier carnivores.
My favourite book in the Astrosaurs series is the first adventure – Riddle of the Raptors – in which Captain Teggs Horatio Stegosaur is finally given his own ship – the DSS Sauropod – and sets off to transport elite athletes to the Dinosaur Games. However, when two head-butting stars are kidnapped then easily rescued, it’s up to Teggs and his crew to find out what the wicked raptors are up to…
While Teggs continues to boldy go about his adventures in deep space, author Steve Cole next takes us back to his roots as a young cadet at the Astrosaurs Academy – with a new group of friends, and new baddies to face! The most enjoyable tale in this series, in my opinion, is Jungle Horror. In this adventure, Colonel Gruff and his staff mysteriously disappear, and a new group of teachers arrive to force feed mis-information about the galaxy to the eager cadets. However, Teggs soon begins to suspect that something is amiss and he sets off with his friends to track down their former tutors and expose a wicked plot to train a generation of useless Astrosaurs!
But that’s not the limit to Steve Cole’s abilities… His hilarious series for the same age group, Cows In Action, follows a herd of time-travelling bovines; he writes for Thunderbirds annuals and Doctor Who books (Jealous? Me?) and his latest hardback – The Hunting book 1: Z. Rex – has possibly one of the best covers I’ve seen in years! I can’t wait to read it…
So, whether you’re into dinosaurs, space, or none of the above and just fancy a good giggle – you won’t go far wrong with Astrosaurs.
Tommy
