Dactyl Hill Squad

Magdalys Roca is an orphan at the Colored Orphan Asylum in New York at the time of the Civil War. But, also, dinosaurs roam the streets and are about as common as birds or dogs. After a fire at the theater the orphans were at, a fight breaks out and some of them are kidnapped. Magdalys and her friends flee to Brooklyn, where they train to fly on pterodactyls and save their friends. Can Magdalys rescue her friends before it’s too late?

I like this book because it is historical and fictional. It is historical because it is during the Civil War, so there are people and places that are real. But some are fictional, so it has a guide at the back of the book that tells you which are real and which are not. It is fictional because, obviously, dinosaurs were extinct long before 1863. But the dinos are not scary. They are friendly, tame, and perfectly normal. Younger kids may not like this book as much, because there is a lot of violence. If you like dinosaurs, history, and non-stop action, you’ll be sure to love this book.