DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK

Two kids climb a ladder to prehistoric adventure in a graphic bid to bring the classic series to an even younger audience.

A half-idle wish that stolid 8 1/2-year-old Jack makes while he and his impulsive little sister, Annie, are sitting in a mysterious, book-filled treehouse whirls the two off to the Cretaceous Period for encounters with dinosaurs both amiable and, in the case of a toothy Tyrannosaurus rex, not so much. The illustrators (twin sisters) make much use of inset and irregularly shaped panels to keep the action trotting along. They craft brightly lit, full-color scenes (more simply drawn than Sal Murdocca’s black-and-white illustrations in the 1992 original) in which Jack’s large eyeglasses and Annie’s big, wide, blue eyes (both kids present White) offer instant keys to their characters, and the dinos wading through grassy, flower-strewn prehistoric landscapes are more beneficent-looking than scary (even that T. rex). Laird incorporates necessary explication into the dialogue, simplifying some vocabulary—Jack’s “I wish I could see a Pteranodon for real,” in the chapter book becomes “I wish we could go there,” as he points to a picture of the flying reptile—but generally sticking to Osborne’s tone and phrasing. In the end the two time travelers get back home in time for dinner…Jack with a certain golden medallion he picked up as a lead-in to the next three episodes.

A bright, brisk repackaging that piles on the visual appeal.