A Dinosaur Ate My Sister

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

by Pooja Puri, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan

Interest age: 9 to 11
Reading age: 8+

Published by Macmillan Children's Books, 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.

More books like this

The 13-Storey Treehouse

by Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Terry Denton

5 to 14 years
Anisha, Accidental Detective

by Serena Patel, illustrated by Emma McCann

5 to 14 years
A Robot Squashed My Teacher

by Pooja Puri, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan

9 to 14 years
Alex Abbott is [Un]Dead

by Louise Austin, illustrated by Katie Kear

9 to 14 years

Explore our Bookfinder

Lists of recommended reads

Books about siblings for children under 8

Siblings are brilliant for teaming up with to have adventures. This selection of exciting stories star brothers and sisters having all sorts of fun together.
Books about girls and women in STEM

Over the years, there have been some inspiring and important women working in science, technology, engineering and maths. Here we highlight amazing non-fiction about real women’s achievements and compelling fiction showing girls and women being brilliant in STEM areas of life.
Dinosaur books

Get ready to chomp, stomp and roar! Explore our selection of brilliant books for dino-fans.
Books with South Asian characters for ages 6+

These wonderful books celebrate South Asian culture through fantastic characters, inspirational true stories and superb storytelling for children in the primary school age range.

Discover more booklists