The Queen & Mr Brown: A Day for Dinosaurs

by James Francis Wilkins

Overview

A delightful tale of two close friends and their eventful day at the museum with the dinosaurs, with lots of facts about how dinosaurs lived and why they all disappeared

Join Britain's much-admired monarch on one of her rare days off, as she and her loveable pet corgi Mr. Brown enjoy an action packed adventure at the Natural History Museum. On a gray, gloomy, and unbearably miserable day, the two friends go in search of dinosaurs. Armed with snacks, they encounter immense skeletons, huge teeth, and a thigh bone as big as the Queen. There are aliens from outer space and some smelly dinosaur dung too! After so much exploring it is no surprise when they both fall asleep—which is when the real excitement begins. Find out what really happened to the dinosaurs all those years ago, what the Queen is doing on top of a Megalosaurus, and who wins a famous victory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780565093259
Publisher:	Natural History Museum, London
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Series:	The Queen & Mr Brown
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	5 - 7 Years

About the Author

James Francis Wilkins has worked as a newpaper cartoonist and in the animation film industry, and now works as an artist.

Editorial Reviews

2014-03-03
With winks broad enough to sprain his entire face, Wilkins offers a tale of the queen's outing to London's Natural History Museum with a reluctant corgi in tow. Mr. Brown trotting gloomily at her heels, the queen impulsively stumps out of the palace one snowy day, marching past crowds of oblivious tourists and passersby. She's off to see the museum's spectacular dinosaur fossils—rendered in the scribbly illustrations with wide eyes and friendly smiles rather than bony skulls. Dismissing the asteroid-impact theory, she ruminates over why they went extinct. (Aliens ate them? Maybe they were "overwhelmed by the stink of their own poo"?) Continuing her woolgathering, she parks herself on a bench and nods off, dreaming of racing at Ascot…atop a Megalosaurus. But she's "pipped at the post" by none other than Mr. Brown, riding a Carnotaurus. How annoying! Later a guard wakes her: "I hope you've got a nice, warm home to go back to?" "Thank you, yes yes I do. That's very kind of you to enquire." In the colored-pencil cartoons, done with childlike simplicity, Mr. Brown's changing expressions provide silent, eloquent commentary. This is a British import, with Briticisms intact. Young readers on either side of the pond who are tempted to do as the queen does should not be dissuaded. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

"With winks broad enough to sprain his entire face, Wilkins offers a tale of the queen's outing to London's Natural History Museum with a reluctant corgi in tow. . . . In the colored-pencil cartoons, done with childlike simplicity, Mr. Brown's changing expressions provide silent, eloquent commentary. "  —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher