By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Let’s talk fun!

My very cute husband, children’s author Greg Leitich Smith, is celebrating his 2012 tween novel, Chronal Engine (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), by modeling an array of awesome dinosaur T-shirts at various Austin landmarks.

Got it? Every day a different rockin’ dinosaur T-shirt at a different super-fantastic Austin locale.

The photos and Greg’s insights (with helpful links in case you want to learn more about, say, BookPeople or purchase one of the shirts) are being posted daily at GregLSBlog.

So far, he’s been to:

• BookPeople
• The Driskill Hotel
• Whole Foods Corporate Headquarters
• Texas State Capitol Building
• Amy’s Ice Creams

If you like children’s books, dinosaurs, Greg, and/or Austin, you’ll enjoy the series!

Please brighten his week (and mine, too) by clicking through, leaving a comment, and/or passing on the link(s). Please also feel free to compliment the photographer (cough) — ha!

Cynsational Notes

In the photo up top, Greg models Chronal Engine while sporting a Katana sword-wielding samurai dinosaurs T-shirt from TeeFury.com at The Driskill Hotel in Austin.

Teachers, librarians & homeschoolers! Don’t miss the Chronal Engine Activity Kit.

About Chronal Engine

When Max, Emma, and Kyle are sent to live with their reclusive
grandfather for the summer, they’re dismayed to learn he thinks there’s a
time machine in the basement.

But when Grandpa Pierson predicts the exact time of his own heart
attack, and when Emma is kidnapped by what can only be a time traveler,
they realize he was telling the truth about the Chronal Engine. And if
they want their sister back, they’ll have to save her themselves.

So Max and Kyle, together with their new friend Petra, pack up their
grandpa’s VW and follow Emma and the kidnapper back in time, to Late
Cretaceous Texas, where the sauropods and tyrannosaurs roam. Can the
trio find Emma and survive the hazards of the Age of Dinosaurs, or are
they, too, destined to become part of the fossil record?

Chronal Engine is a Junior Library Guild selection.

Chronal Engine Reviews

Interior art by Blake Henry

“Who has time to be indulging in a lot of teen angst when you’re running from a T. rex?…The short length, breathless pace, and graphic-novel-esque, full-page
illustrations might make this one appealing to reluctant readers” – School Library Journal

“[T]his is exactly the book young dino fans would write themselves, crammed with sandbox-style action and positively packed with words like Nanotyrannus and Parasaurolophus. Great back matter clarifies fact from speculation, while Henry’s manga-inspired illustrations provide a good sense of the monsters’ scary scale.” – Booklist

“Dinosaurs, time travel, mystery and adventure—this novel for teens has it all…The characters are believable and likable, and the story carries itself quickly along. Black and white illustrations effectively give the reader a nice visual of the happenings as well.”  – Children’s Literature

See also It Started with a Picture Book (ALSC Blog) and Dinosaurs, Heritage, Time Travel & Chronal Engine (Cynsations).