Parents' Guide to

Dactyl Hill Squad

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Civil War-era kids ride dinos in New York in curious mashup.

Book Daniel Jose Older Fantasy 2018
Dactyl Hill Squad Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

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age 2+

Based on 1 parent review

bjgp
bjgp Parent of 7-year-old
January 14, 2019
age 2+

This title has:

Too much consumerism
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In DACTYL HILL SQUAD, Magdalys and her friends from New York's Colored Orphan Asylum head to a Shakespeare play one evening on the orphanage's old triceratops. On the way, the corrupt city magistrate astride a knuckleskull threatens the group and urges them to turn around. Magdayls prays their triceratops will rear up and startle him -- and he does just that. And later when the theater begins to burn and her friend needs rescuing, the fire department's brachy understands her. And understands when Magdalys, the theater actors, and all her friends need to get somewhere safe. Rioting has broken out in New York City and African Americans are being targeted. The group heads to a safe house in Brooklyn, where they're given a place to stay and a job: to use dactyls to gather intel around the city and alert the safe house when African Americans are threatened in New York City. After the riots, many more have been kidnaped and sent South as slaves. Because of Magdalys' newfound talent to communicate with dinos, she's the best person for the job.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1):
Kids say: Not yet rated

It's a shame that a book with so fascinating a premise -- African American kids astride dinos in Civil War-era NYC -- is so poorly set up and executed. The many glossaries in the back of the book may hold more interest for readers, mostly because the writing is clear, the way it should be for middle graders. It seems like the story begins three chapters in. We know just a little about Magdalys and almost nothing about the kids that will be the Dactyl Hill Squad. And when the big rescue scene jumps hastily to "we're chimney sweep spies now" there will be more head-scratching. So much doesn't get developed. It allows for more action -- there's a whole lot of that -- but it's grounded in very little and, again, hard to follow, like a sketch instead of play-by-play.

Kids may still take a lot away from Dactyl Hill Squad, though. They'll get a new perspective on the Civil War era, a few dinosaur facts, and a great heroine who learns to embrace her talents and take pride in them like all kids should. Here's hoping the writing in the sequel gets a much finer polish.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Magdalys and her relationship to dinosaurs in Dactyl Hill Squad. What did the captive dinosaur represent to her? What does it represent in the book as a whole?

  • What did you learn about the lives of African American New Yorkers during the Civil War era?

  • Will you read the next in the series? What do you think will happen to Magdalys and her friends?

Book Details

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