A charming story written in 1956, full of humor and appeal, especially for dinosaur fans. Nate Twitchell is twelve, and lives with his parents and sister in a small, rural New Hampshire town where nothing much exciting happens. At least until Nate finds one of their hens sitting on an enormous egg that seems different from any hen’s egg, it has a somewhat soft and leathery feel. Nate befriends Dr. Ziemer, a paleontologist from Washington D.C. who is vacationing on a nearby farm, and when Dr. Ziemer sees the egg, he gets quite excited, and tells Nate to monitor it carefully. At first it seems the hen will never get it hatched, but after six weeks, an amazing creature emerges. Dr. Ziemer believes it’s a baby Triceratops dinosaur. How it came to be born millions of years after the dinosaurs went extinct is a mystery, but he and Nate are thrilled. Dr. Ziemer has a hard time convincing his fellow scientists to take him seriously. When they do and begin to arrive, everyone agrees the dinosaur, which Nate names Uncle Beazley, is the real thing. Soon reporters and the curious gather to see this wonder, and Nate has to deal with all kinds of offers for his discovery, but Nate and Uncle Beazley like each other and want to stay together. As the dinosaur continues to grow, that becomes more difficult.
Great story, wonderful illustrations by Louis Darling, highly recommended.
I fondly remember this one too!
My favorite book growing up. I can’t count how many times I read it. Louis Darling’s art had a lot to do with it, too. I was lucky enough to pick up one of the original art pieces – page 37 with the whole family looking down at the newly hatched Uncle Beazley.
How great!