Middle-school classmates Dominique, Eric, Josephine, and Ajay return home from their first Smithsonian time-travel adventure to find dinosaurs all over their neighborhoods. When they return to the Smithsonian, the Museum of Natural History is now the Museum of Extinction. They go back in time to the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition, where they discover the dastardly Barris brothers have brought live dinosaur eggs from the past. The friends enlist the help of William Foulke, a young Nellie Bly, and Alexander Graham Bell to stop the Barris' plot. This volume provides another rollicking adventure with colorful art, a diverse cast, and fun details, such as the introduction of root beer, in 1876. The book includes more information about Foulke and his dinosaur at the Philadelphia Exhibition, but readers will likely want to learn more about Nellie Bly, since the kids hint at her future as a journalist. Hopefully, readers will see that history is so much more than a bunch of facts and figures as they learn about dinosaurs and fossil hunting in nineteenth-century America.

The sudden appearance of dinosaurs in place of house pets and other modern animals sends four young time travelers scurrying back into the past in search of history-changing meddlers.Hard on the heels of their first adventure in the past (The Wrong Wrights, 2016), Ajay (South Asian), Dominique (African-American), Eric, and Josephine (the latter two white) are dispatched by their mysterious Smithsonian contact back to the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876. There, the nefarious Barris brothers are scheming to trump the hadrosaur fossil that was historically exhibited there with live dinos transported as eggs from the deep past. Internal logic is definitely not the strong suit here, as the dinosaurs, including predators, that are suddenly roaming freely and harmlessly through suburban neighborhoods have improbably supplanted "nearly every niche of fauna" except Homo sapiens. Still, with minor effort plus help from an evidently omniscient AI and such historical figures as Alexander Graham Bell (an exhibitor at the fair) the Barrises are thwarted and our own timeline restored. Well, not quite: a closing notice about the upcoming coronation of the "King of America" points to a new mission for the young science nerds. Glassy-eyed figures mostly just stand around and talk in the neatly squared-off panels, but the action, when there is any, is easy to follow. The infodumps aren't heavy, but this isn't much more than a vehicle for its tidbits of history and science. (graphic afterword) (Graphic fantasy. 8-11)

Gr 5-8 Schoolmates Dominique, Eric, Josephine, and Ajay return from their first time-travel adventure to find that dinosaurs are alive and well in the modern age and roaming their neighborhoods. The kids head back to the Smithsonian to figure out why, and they find that the National Museum of Natural History has undergone a name change: it's now known as the Museum of Extinction. The only way to sort out the problems in the present is to travel to the past, so the schoolmates go to the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition, where the Barris brothers are planning to profit from selling dinosaur eggs. Enlisting the help of notable historical figures such as Alexander Graham Bell, Nellie Bly, and William Foulke, the children set history back on course. The pacing is reminiscent of children's television programming. The artwork has a cartoon style that will appeal to the intended audience in its animation-inspired look and layout. The technology and time-travel rules are not fully explained in this volume, so readers will want to be familiar with the first installment. This is a series that should be read in order of publication and one that should be purchased in its entirety. The characterizations require readers to suspend disbelief a bit, as the children are all-knowing in many subject areas, from dinosaurs to historical figures. This graphic novel would be a great read-alike for fans of David Shapiro's "Terra Tempo" graphic novel series and may be a good fit for "Magic Tree House" fans to grow into. VERDICT Highly recommended for those seeking titles that incorporate STEM themes. A solid purchase for both school and public library collections of all sizes. Samantha Lumetta, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County