book cover

A Dinosaur Ate My Sister

by Pooja Puri, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan

Interest age: 9 to 11
Reading age: 8+

Published by Macmillan, 2021

  • Adventure

About this book

All Esha Verma wants to do is win the word-famous Brain Trophy, but you have to come up with a genius invention, and all she has to help her is a timid apprentice, Broccoli (named for his snot). When she builds a Time Machine, she thinks the Trophy is hers, but then her big sister gets in it and presses the button. Next stop: the Cretaceous period!

This hilarious, wacky story comes with dollops of Dahl-esque humour and language, and an ever-increasing cast of larger-than-life characters who all have a part to play in rescuing Esha’s poor old big sister from the clutches of the dinosaurs. Esha is a brilliant heroine, confident, loud and inventive. Broccoli gets a determined word in edgeways now and then.

This romp through space and time will have readers who love series such as The Thirteen Storey Treehouse and Anisha, Accidental Detective laughing aloud. Every page is decorated with vivid cartoon illustrations and there is a lot for the reader to pay attention to visually in this fast-moving story.

About the author

Pooja has loved writing stories since she was a child. She first tasted publishing success with her short story, ‘Chess’, and later graduated from King’s College London with a degree in English anguage and literature. Whilst at university she read for a publishing house and has since  worked in the education sector. In 2014, she was chosen as a winner of the Ideas Tap Writers’ Centre Norwich Inspires competition. In 2017, she successfully completed an MA in writing for young people at Bath Spa University. Her debut novel, The Jungle, was released in 2017 and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2018. 

She is currently working on her second book, a historical novel set in the Elizabethan era. Pooja is interested in exploring the idea of boundaries and experimenting with different voices. Based in London, she is represented by Lauren Gardner at the Bell Lomax Moreton Agency. 

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