Dinotopia, A Land Apart from Time: 20th Anniversary Edition (Calla Editions) - Hardcover

Gurney, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1606600222 ISBN 13: 9781606600221

Publisher: Calla Editions, 2011

Synopsis

When James Gurney's Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time first appeared in 1992, it was immediately hailed as a fully imagined world of the caliber of J. R. R. Tolkien's. Gurney's premise — of an undiscovered island where a race of mystical humans co-exists in harmony with intelligent dinosaurs — has been since reiterated over and over in numerous films and by scores of other writers. Now, Calla Editions brings Gurney's spectacular artistry to a new generation in this 20th anniversary edition. Digitally re-rendered from the original transparencies, Gurney's dramatic panoramas of Dinotopia and close-up character studies of its inhabitants — both human and saurian — take on new vitality. And as a tale of high adventure and discovery told as entries and sketches in journal form, Dinotopia presents a shipwrecked visitor's glimpse into an imagined social order, a culture, and even a cooperative interspecies technology that will satisfy lovers of fantasy and science fiction of all persuasions. This edition includes a new Afterword written by author James Gurney as well as a special section of behind-the-scenes studies and maquettes he used in developing his paintings.

About this title

About the Author

Before writing and illustrating Dinotopia, James Gurney painted reconstructions of ancient civilizations for National Geographic magazine. He has illustrated seventeen stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, including The World of Dinosaurs. His Dinotopia artwork has won the Hugo, Chesley, Spectrum, and World Fantasy Awards and has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and the Delaware Art Museum. His most recent books, Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist (2009) and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (2010), are based on his daily blog gurneyjourney.blogspot.com.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4 Up-- Arthur Denison, a Victorian scientist, and his son Will are shipwrecked on an amazing island . Here, dinosaurs live in harmony with a colony of humans, made up of other marooned travelers and their descendants. Will and his father are fascinated by the technology of their new home. They visit a hatchery, a blacksmith in Volcaneum, and a city built on waterfalls. The boy is most impressed by the Skybax Riders, people who are trained to fly on winged reptiles. Deciding to join them, he goes through their rigorous training program. In the meantime, his father finds a route to the dinosaur underground, a mythic place referred to in old dinosaur tales. He returns to find his son has ``earned his wings,'' but his discoveries are saved for (one assumes) another book. This fairytale will capture the interests of older fantasy readers--those perhaps, who enjoy the ``Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (Houghton), or Lewis's ``Narnia'' series (Macmillan). Younger readers, too, will be enticed by the dramatic, full-color illustrations, which include both panoramic sweeps of the utopian cities and detailed sketches of Dinotopian contraptions. While the women are more active than their Victorian counterparts, the adventurers here are still Will and Dad. Also, the illustrations tend to portray nonwhite Dinotopians as exotics, a stereotype better left in the past. Overall, the success of this story depends upon readers' ability to accept these creatures as peaceful, intelligent herbivores. Advanced readers who find sharp-toothed carnivores more to their liking may prefer a visit to Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park (Knopf, 1990), for a not-so-tame tale also set on a dinosaur isle. --Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Calla Editions
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1606600222
• ISBN 13: 9781606600221
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192