The Last Synapsid Book

Faith, Colorado, doesn't get many visitors. But this spring, a mysterious creature is lurking on the mountain. Fiercer than a mountain lion, it's been hunting pets and horses, and leaving their remains scattered over the mountainside. But what is it, and what does it want? Only 12-year-old Rob and his best friend, 13-year-old Phoebe, are brave enough to investigate.
What they find on the mountain is beyond their wildest imagination. The last synpapsid—a squat, drooly creature that looks like a dinosaur crossed with a wienerdog not only speaks English, but also claims to need Rob and Phoebe's help. He's looking for his cohort—a violent carnivore called a gorgonopsid. If he doesn't bring it back to his time, history will re-align, humans will never evolve, and Rob and Phoebe will end up as nothing more than characters in an elderly synpapsid's dream.

Children's Literature

Middle schoolers Phoebe Traylor and Rob Gates have a lot in common: they have been friends all their lives; they are each the only child of a single mother; and they live in Faith, Texas, a small mountain town where the "Stairmaster," the highest peak, is a favorite spot to get away from it all. Rob and Phoebe depend upon their friendship in middle school, which is not the "safest territory on earth." And they are about to share the adventure of their lives, one that includes missing pets, danger, adults' distrust, time travel, and meeting two synapsids (creatures who lived 250 million years ago) nicknamed Sid and Gorgon, who got to the modern world through a time snag. Did I mention that these creatures speak English? Yes, and they are asking for the young people's help to get back to their own world before Phoebe's and Rob's very existence is threatened. Mason's characters are compelling. Rob and Phoebe must deal with early teenaged angst, fear, quirky teachers and townspeople and what Phoebe's mom terms, "hormones." Finally, there is a new person in town—Dr. Jenkins. Is he a scholarly and harmless professor who is "just passing through " or a dangerous nutcase? A well-written, complex, suspenseful plot plus pencil illustrations by fourteen-year-old Paul Cronan all make this a great read with some science and history lessons thrown in for good measure. Reviewer: Judy Crowder