Lost Time

Mukanik, Tasha. Lost Time
October 3, 2023 by Razorbill
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

In this graphic novel, Evie finds herself catapulted back 67.5 million years to the cretaceous period in North America after a fight with her mothers. Her mothers, who study ancient creatures, wanted her to travel back with them, but Evie was scared. Running away, she managed to accidentally get transported by herself. She does find an abandoned research center, and working taped logs of the scientists there. After picking up an egg and hatching a Quetzalcoatlus (whom she names Ada), Evie dedicates herself to listening to the tapes and caring for herself and her growing "pet". When she finds that the scientists had a temporal communicator, but that it is stored at a far flung location, she teaches Ada to let her ride on her back. This takes some time, and there are always other ancient creatures to deal with, but the two soon set out. They find another abandoned station, as well as the tempcom, but Ada manages to drop it in the sea. Heading home dejected and longing to speak to her mothers, Evie finds brief solace in caring for an injured T Rex, Prince, who comes to her rescue after fire devastates the research station. Will Evie ever be able to find her mothers and return to the present? 

Readers who enjoy manga will like the vivid style of the pictures, and those who struggle with text will appreciate the many wordless panels, showcasing scenes of survival, daily life, or Evie's longing to be with her parents. The drawings of dinosaurs (and other ancient creatures), as well as the notes in the back on different species, will please the children who are obsessed with these animals and can identify all of the different ones by name. 

This is an easy to follow story with not a lot of text, which is great for emergent readers but left me wanting to know a lot more about certain aspects of Evie's story. I also have my doubts about Evie's ability to tame a prehistoric Quetzalcoatlus and T Rex, but if she can travel 67.5 million years into the past, she should be allowed to do just about anything she wants. 

There are not a lot of fictional books about dinosaurs, and Nat Geo Kids has two fantastic guides;  How to Survive in the Age of Dinosaurs and The Dinosaur Atlas. There is another graphic novel, Plumeri's 2014 In the Beginning: Dinosaurs #1, and Martin's 2016 The Ark Plan series, but there could be a lot more books set during this time, like the old television show Land of the Lost,  or set in the modern era with dinosaurs, like Jurassic Park. Since there aren't, definitely pick up Lost Time for a young dinosaur fan. 

This would be a good choice for an elementary school; I don't know that I would have purchased this for my middle school, but since I got a copy for review, I'll include it in the collection since there aren't as many adventure oriented graphic novels. There's just not as much of a plot or character development as middle grade usually has.