Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur

Jacob Two-Two #2

by Mordecai Richler, Norman Eyolfson (Illustrator)

When his parents return from Kenya with a cute little green lizard on his eighth birthday (he’s two times two times two), Jacob Two-Two is thrilled. But it isn’t long before Jacob realizes that his new pet Dippy isn’t a lizard after all. And as months pass, it is apparent Dippy isn’t so little either. Soon Dippy is attracting all sorts of unwanted attention and before he knows it, Jacob is on the run from the Canadian government with a full-grown dinosaur to hide.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Canada, Childrens, Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Prehistoric, 20th Century

98 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 12, 1987

About the author

Working-class Jewish background based novels, which include The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Saint Urbain's Horseman (1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.

People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.

A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.

Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.

Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.

Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.

Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.

In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.

Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.

Richler died of cancer.

Reviews

[Lovely Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

Eragon for little kids, with some minor swears and abuses of God’s name that feels so strange in a kids book

[Cic il ciclista stanco · Rating 4 out of 5]

E' il secondo libro (dei tre) su Jacob Due-Due (Jacob Two-Two) che leggo. Forse meno scoppiettante del primo, ma ugualmente interessante. Mi sono chiesto se è un libro per bambini che piace anche ai bambini, oltre che agli adulti arrivati qui seguendo le tutte le tracce scritte lasciate dall'autore della versione di Barney.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 7-year old daughter is quite enamored with the television show based on the Jacob Two-Two series so I decided to borrow the one installment that I found in our local library. As the story got underway she was more interested in the differences in character descriptions and illustration style between the book and the show than in what was taking place on page. While the show is right up her entertainment alley, much of the humor in this book was a little above her head and well below mine. We almost gave up on it but decided to see it through to the end. As the story neared its conclusion the quirky charm of Richler's writing and the absurdity of his characters began to win her over. Maybe we'll give another Jacob Two-Two book a shot down the road. Maybe she'll stick with the TV show.

[Dubhease · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang as a child. By the time this book came out I was too old and too cool to read kids books. Now that I'm reading children's books again, I can appreciate this book. While not quite as charming as the first book, it is still an entertaining story.

This book is fun. This book is fun.

[Michael Kott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this for my grandson who is also named jacob. However I was unaware it was so short and illustrated (poorly in my opinion). As he is into the likes of Harry Potter (How did he grow so quickly?) I'll just donate it.
Personally I was not in the least impressed buy this book which I see some reviewers refer to as a Canadian Classic kids book. Most agree though that the jokes, political contrivances and language are over most kids heads. It starts, and no one in the book thinks its wrong, with the parents smuggling the dino baby out of Africa and into Canada. Maybe this is not a crime in Canada but it is in the USA. I'm giving it 2 stars as it might be dated.

[Jak Krumholtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read one of my favorites as a kid with my son.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flutterwoosh! That's the sound of this book flying over the heads of my kids. As political satire, I guess it works, but I think Freddy the Politician worked better for us.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kid liked it but I found it backward. Not as good as the first. The overarching story about a boy and his dinosaur sounds good but it was lost in all the “jokes” such as names that were plays on insults. Yes men and women anothe other bits were over his head. Some were good converostarters but it was too much.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always hesitant of books I read as a child because many of them have not aged well. Jacob Two-Two though... I can safely read this one to my daughter or recommend it to my students and I think they would find it hilarious.

Some themes: cross-county adventure; bumbling adults; friendship and loyalty; dinosaurs

[Mack Flavelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book for a Canadian kid. Talks about all the cities and prime minister and such. Has dinosaurs which kids like, but the whole story wasn't that interesting to me. Having a hard time putting my self in a kid's shoes to see if it would be really fun.

I do remember reading the hooded fang as a kid and finding it really unsettling. Was hoping to find that in this one, and there's hints of it, the independent child, adults are all mean or stupid, but that melancholy didn't echo as loud as I was hoping in this one.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprised to see so many negative reviews on this one. I found the political satire in this book to be excellently done—it’s dry and witty, and provides examples of grownups over-analyzing things that kids just instinctively “get”. I hope my son will become a critical thinker, and a reader who can pick up on nuance. I was delighted to find these things in a children’s book. I think it’s important to select material that stretches and challenges as well as entertains. We had fun reading it together.

[Trevor Trujillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among the many great pieces of media that was part of my childhood was an abridged reading of this story from Christopher Plummer. I loved it as a kid and this was my first time with the full text.
I was taken by how funny this ended up being, in that it managed to coax more than a few audible laughs out of me.
Richler tells a simple kids' story with enough skill and humor that I never thought that I, as an adult reading to themselves, was wasting my time.

[Raymond Pilon]

Children's book. A lizard ends up being a dinosaur that the Canadian government wants to kill.

[Eleanor Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A kids' book with enough satirical humour to engage adults as well.

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 3 out of 5]

I encountered "Jacob Two-Two & The Dinosaur" and was surprised it is by Canada’s Mordecai Richler. Additionally, it succeeds a cute title that got mentioned once, when I was in school. I waited until I had the "Hooded Fang" prequel and then at last, read them both.

They balance out at three stars. Much more detail went into the workings of the ‘Hooded Fang’ world and the children’s quest to reach help outside a fog-hidden prison. However I tired of the protagonist’s ‘two-two’ habit and was glad to find him outgrown of it in this dinosaur novel. Both involve very dire circumstances for a young child so neither was light hearted but both encompass wit. However unless one cares for political jibes, I found many more nuggets of hilarity in the first.

What I appreciated about this novel is that Jacob’s Dad has moved the family from England to his native Canada. There is a multi-province panorama as Jacob flees from the government with his dinosaur and the happy thought that other dinosaurs may exist, in an undisturbed region of larger trees.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided that during DEAR time I will always read a book from our library corner so that I can book-talk it with the kids in my class. This week it was Jacob Two-Two.

Many years ago I went to a play at Olympic Plaza that was Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur. It was quite true to the book!

I was a little bothered at the way Jacob is treated in the beginning of the book. He is teased by everyone in his family. It seems a little over the top. Maybe I'm just too sensitive. Mordecai Richler definitely has a similar feel to his books as Roald Dahl: adults are mean and quite unnecessary and kids have to make it on their own. There's also lots of great humor that kids in Gr 3 will really crack up over - like the dinosaur causing huge wind storms because of gas he gets after eating his favorite food: Pizza!

There's some great elaborative detail in chapter 4 when Dippy is introduced! I will make a note of this for when I'm teaching elaborative detail.

One of the really fun things about this book is that it is set in Canada. They go to Banff and mention other places near us. The back page also notes that the children in the story have the same names as Mordecai Richler's children.

[Crystal B · Rating 1 out of 5]

My class had read Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang and was anxious to read this book, but as we started, they had trouble grasping the content. The jokes and political innuendoes were way too complex and they were lost. As the one reading it to them, I often had to change the language or comments, because they were inappropriate or violent. I was deeply disappointed by this book. We stopped reading it because it was inappropriate for my students.

[Sherry Schwabacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 10-year-old grandson, Simon, loves the Jacob Two-Two television program. When I told him it was based on a real series of books, he begged me to get them for him. Now he can't wait for the next book to arrive.

[NightAuditMan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book along with others from a box in my basement from when I was a kid. Although still interesting (as it takes place in Canada) I found that this was not as enjoyable as the first. Also the art was kind of not my taste. I will still read this to my children and maybe they will like it.

[Ryan Solski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great illustrations from a Canadian classic. I drew the main character for more than ten years with never really reading the book set. It was fun catching up with Mr. Two Two.

[Beverly Akerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

kinder,gentler Richler, still with lots to say about politicians and sibling rivalry. if your child is named Jacob, so much the better! wonderful to read this love letter to his family...

[Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. I did NOT realize how many of these jokes went over my head as a kid.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kids really liked this book. I think much of the political humour escaped them.

[Julieta · Rating 5 out of 5]

ggtttt

[Cristina Cacciatore könig · Rating 5 out of 5]

It´s a very nice book for pre-teens kids; funnily written, quick and easy to read.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as the original, but amusing.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book uses humor that kids won't understand, but that this adult found stupid and boring.