Will Solvit is a regular ten year old - or so he thought. With the help of his dad's crazy inventions, Will finds himself with a broken time machine, a hungry T-Rex, and a trail of secret letters to decode. Featuring amazing dinosaur fun facts, easy to read text, and a whole lot of mysteries to solve, Will Solvit makes a great companion for middle readers ages 6-11.
Zed Storm has lived in Japan for the past five years and is a master of several martial arts. He has a wolfhound called Max, and in his spare time plays the guitar and competes in triathlons. He likes to read about history, space exploration, and rare animals, and he came up with the idea for Will Solvit while camping in a Siberian forest.
My son, Michael, and I read this book together. We always read like that, I read one page and he reads the next. It is nice for him as the reading goes faster and he doesn't have to wait as long to find out what happens next. He did enjoy this book which is about a young boy who "loses" his parents in the jungle in an unfortunate incident and is determined to find a way to rescue them. I found it fairly entertaining although the story line is not as strong as some of the other books for this age group. There were some interesting facts about dinosaurs included in the book and the setting and characters do have appeal for pre-teen boys. I found the ending a bit irritating as it didn't seem to provide any indication of how Will was going to solve his problems. I also didn't really like the way Will is described as being so disinterested in school and learning. I don't think books should encourage young readers to think that being a good student is totally "uncool" and not in keeping with the life of an adventurer.
I thought this book was pretty stream-of-consciousness as far as plot goes. The writing was okay, though I don't think you have to use a butt or fart reference on every page in order to appeal to the 9-12 year old set. Just saying. That said, my 9 year old loved this book.
I like this book because he gives you facts. It was amazing because you get to know your character very well because Will Solvit gives his name and he gives that he has no siblings. I like the author because of the he describe about Will Solvit and his family members.
This was actually a pretty cute adventure read that will probably mostly apply to male middle grade readers. Will Solvit's father is an inventor who has created, amongst many other spectacular things, a time machine that can take Will back to prehistoric days -- because, of course, Will is absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs. Except, Will somehow ended up leaving his parents back with the dinosaurs but he managed to bring a baby t-rex back to present times -- oops! So now Will has to figure out how to get his parents back, except now the time machine is broken and Will has been sent off to live with his semi-senile Grandfather, who has a mysterious secret that Will is left to discover. He starts finding little notes from an unknown author that give him directions on how he might solve the mystery. Can he get his parents back before baby t-rex destroys the whole town?
I think the only thing that really put me off a bit was the overuse of 'fart' jokes -- and OMG, I'm still so sad and shocked that I got to know this cute little dinosaur after he was eating mom's salad, then CHOMP, he was eaten and there were blood and guts everywhere. If I'd read this when I was at the middle grade reader age, I'd probably have had nightmares -- but I'm sure braver girls and wild little boys will enjoy it. I was actually intrigued enough about Will's quest to find his own special abilities -- as well as the mysterious request that he leave his parents back in time with the dinosaurs -- that I might actually continue on with this series to see what comes next...
Another book for Thomas/Dad to read together. 1st in a new series with character Will Solvit, and to not give anything away, he will solve the mystery of his life and who he is in this new book. All of this while dealing with the T-Rex he brings back from the past to his present world. Along the way he meets a new friend (and I suspect future partner or at least on-going character), Zoe. The book mixes prose, with a few instered comic book style panels at times, and an intersting decoder (looks like a piece of plastic with a polarizing filter built in) to see the hidden pictures throughout the story.
Overall, not too bad. However, Thomas was a bit upset when the T-Rex ate...well, you'll need to read to find out...
I enjoyed the story line. The "decoder " that comes with the book was difficult to use at some points in the book because you couldn't lay the decoder flat onto the page since the picture you were trying to decode was near the center of the book. This maybe aggravating to children with fine motor skill problems. In all the book I believe will entertain young readers, boys more than girls.