Astrosaurs facts for kids
Astrosaurs is a super cool series of science fiction books for kids, written by Steve Cole. These books started coming out in 2005. The main characters are awesome space-traveling dinosaurs! You'll meet Teggs Stegosaur (a Stegosaurus), Gipsy Saurine (a Corythosaurus), Arx Orano (a Triceratops), and Iggy Tooth (an Iguanodon).
The books are published by Random House. The first two Astrosaurs books came out on February 1, 2005, and since then, over twenty more have been released! The Teeth of the T. Rex was a special book written just for World Book Day. Many Astrosaurs books used to come with free trading cards featuring characters, ships, and aliens from the stories. The first five Astrosaurs books are also available as Audiobooks on CD in the UK. Starting in late 2010, many of the books got awesome new covers!
Contents
What are Astrosaurs about?
Imagine if dinosaurs didn't disappear when a giant space rock hit Earth millions of years ago! In the Astrosaurs books, dinosaurs actually learned how to travel through space way back in the Triassic period. They left Earth before the big meteor arrived.
These space dinosaurs settled in a part of space called the Jurassic Quadrant. This area is split into two parts: one for meat-eating dinosaurs (carnivores) and one for plant-eating dinosaurs (herbivores). There's also a neutral zone between them. Usually, they stay peaceful by avoiding each other, but sometimes trouble still pops up!
In the first book, Admiral Rosso, a wise old Barosaurus, hires Teggs to work for the DSS (Dinosaur Space Service). Teggs then meets his crew: Arx Orano, Iggy Tooth, Gipsy Saurine, and fifty Dimorphodon pilots. In a special extra-long book called Earth Attack, a bad guy named General Loki, a Velociraptor, tries to go back in time. He wants to stop the dinosaurs from ever leaving Earth, which would change everything! But luckily, he gets stopped.
Meet the Characters
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Captain Teggs Horatio Stegosaur | Captain Teggs is a Stegosaurus from the planet Steggos. He's a top Astrosaur in the Dinosaur Space Service (DSS) and leads the DSS Sauropod spaceship. Teggs is super brave and loves adventure, almost as much as he loves snacks! His battle armor has a special electric shock in his tail spike to stun enemies. Admiral Rosso made him captain. |
| Arx Longhorn Orano | Arx is a Triceratops from the planet Tri Major. He's the first officer on the DSS Sauropod. At 52, he's the oldest and smartest crew member. When the team gets into trouble, Arx usually figures out how to fix things. |
| Iggadoo Tooth ("Iggy") |
Iggy is an Iguanodon from the planet Iguanos. He's the chief engineer on the DSS Sauropod. Iggy is a brilliant mechanic and a tough fighter with thumb spikes and stun claws on his battle armor. He's 26 and a good friend of Arx. His favorite weapons are his stun claws. |
| Gipsy Saurine | Gipsy is a Corythosaurus from the planet Corythos. She's the communications officer on the DSS Sauropod. She's the only girl on the main crew and the youngest at 21 (not counting Sprite). Gipsy can speak almost every dinosaur language, which is super helpful on missions! |
| Sprrti-aaaat**o ("Sprite") |
Sprite is a Dimorphodon from the planet Dimorphia. He leads the dimorphodon flight crew. At first, Sprite was mostly in the background, but he plays a bigger role in later books. He even joins the main crew on missions and is called an Astrosaur himself! Sprite is 16. |
| The Dimorphodon | Fifty Dimorphodon, which are flying reptiles, pilot the DSS Sauropod spaceship. Sprite is their leader. |
| Other Crew Members | Terri Alarmosaurus is an alarm pterosaur who warns the crew of danger. Alass Tikka leads the Ankylosaurus security team on the ship. |
Books in the Main Series
| Title | Published |
|---|---|
| Riddle of the Raptors | February 1, 2005 |
| The Hatching Horror | February 1, 2005 |
| The Seas of Doom | May 5, 2005 |
| The Mind-Swap Menace | August 4, 2005 |
| The Skies of Fear | January 5, 2006 |
| The Space Ghosts | March 2, 2006 |
| The Day of the Dino Droids | June 1, 2006 |
| The Terror Bird Trap | August 3, 2006 |
| Teeth of the T-Rex | March 1, 2007 |
| The Planet of Peril | April 5, 2007 |
| The Star Pirates | June 7, 2007 |
| The Claws of Christmas | October 4, 2007 |
| The Sun Snatchers | February 7, 2008 |
| Revenge of the FANG | August 7, 2008 |
| The Carnivore Curse | January 1, 2009 |
| The Dreams of Dread | May 7, 2009 |
| The Robot Raiders | February 4, 2010 |
| The Twist of Time | April 29, 2010 |
| The Sabre-Tooth Secret | February 3, 2011 |
| The Forest of Evil | August 4, 2011 |
| Earth Attack! | October 6, 2011 |
| The T.rex Invasion | April 26, 2012 |
| The Castle of Frankensaur | August 30, 2012 |
| The Dinosaur Moo-tants | Autumn 2013 |
Astrosaurs Academy Series
A spin-off series called Astrosaurs Academy started on May 1, 2008. These books tell stories about Teggs Stegosaur when he was younger, before he became a full Astrosaur. In Astrosaurs Academy, Teggs has two best friends named Blink and Dutch. The characters Gipsy, Arx, and Iggy do not appear in this series. The Astrosaurs Academy series finished with the book Space Kidnap on March 3, 2011.
- Destination: Danger: Published – May 1, 2008
- Contest Carnage: Published – May 1, 2008
- Terror Underground: Published – September 4, 2008
- Jungle Horror: Published – February 5, 2009
- Deadly Drama: Published – July 2, 2009
- Christmas Crisis: Published – October 1, 2009
- Volcano Invaders: Published – April 1, 2010
- Space Kidnap: Published – March 3, 2011
