Chickensaurus by James Foley

S.Tinker Inc. series. Fremantle Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781925815788.
(Age: Primary) Recommended. Chickensaurus is the fourth book in the S.Tinker Inc. series that follows the tales of Sally Tinker and her gang as they invent a plethora of wondrous things (including robots, giant dung beetles and tiny submarines to investigate her brothers insides!) with this story surrounding her arch enemy turning chickens into monstrous dinosaurs.
Sally and her crew are forced to flee into the maze to try and escape the crazy trifeathertops and the pteroducktyl, however they eventually end up in the basement where all sorts of unexpected things happen . . .
This graphic novel was written with middle primary aged children in mind, and was perfect for my year 4, 10 year old. He thought it was a great book, and especially loved the illustrations and the idea of morphing a chicken and a dinosaur. He felt that lots of kids he went to school with would like the book, and wanted to tell the school librarian to look into this title and the other three in the series.
I also thought it was a good, easy enough read that would suit the middle primary bracket, but I think it would be most beneficial to readers who may struggle with short novels, or younger students who want a challenge. I enjoyed the flow of the stories conversation and found myself easily giving characters accents and voices. I think that James Foley has done a really good job in drawing in a wide variety of readers at different engagement and skill levels. The illustrations really help the story too, with the characters showing emotions and the Chickensaurus being quite amusing.
After finishing the book I wanted to check out the other 3 in the series as I enjoyed the characters, story and the illustrations so much!
Overall I think James Foley is a very good writer, and one that deserves to be on my children's book shelf. He has written a number of other books, plus some short stories which we will definitely be looking into. 4 out of 5 for Chickensaurus. Teacher's notes are available.
Lauren Fountain