DINO TROUBLE

Travis and Journey’s new normal is life inside of a video game.

When strange newcomer Mr. Miniboss shows up in town and turns an abandoned building into a magical, mysterious, free-entry video game center dubbed Arcade World, all of the neighborhood kids immediately become obsessed. But the arcade soon turns sinister when all of the video games come alive. The story centers on Travis and his best friend, Journey, who realize that they have been transported into their new favorite game, Dino Trouble. They must survive numerous threats—including being chased by glittery dinosaurs—as they try to figure out who really owns Arcade World and how to get back to Normal, which happens to be the name of their town. Travis is White, and Journey has light brown skin. While the dynamic comic-book graphics deliver an action-packed romp, character development and dialogue are a bit shallow and shaky. Some plot points can serve as springboards for conversations about screen time and healthy use of online technologies. The funny cliffhanger ending does its job—young readers will want to read the next installment to find out what happens next.

An entertaining series opener whose simple storyline can be forgiven.