Dactyl Hill Squad

Written by Daniel José Older

Narrated by Channie Waites

It's 1863 and dinosaurs roam the streets of New York as the Civil War rages between raptor-mounted armies down South. Magdalys Roca and her friends from the Colored Orphan Asylum are on a field trip when the Draft Riots break out, and a number of their fellow orphans are kidnapped by an evil magistrate, Richard Riker. Magdalys and her friends flee to Brooklyn and settle in the Dactyl Hill neighborhood, where black and brown New Yorkers have set up an independent community--a safe haven from the threats of Manhattan. Together with the Vigilance Committee, they train to fly on dactylback, discover new friends and amazing dinosaurs, and plot to take down Riker. Can Magdalys and the squad rescue the rest of their friends before it's too late?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781980006107

Daniel José Older

Daniel José Older is a New York Times bestselling author, editor, and composer. Shadowshaper, his first published young adult novel, received the International Latino Book Award and was also recognized as a New York Times Notable Book and NPR's Best Book of the Year. A bass player for the soul-jazz band Ghost Star, he also chronicles his thoughts on writing and his decade-long career as a New York City paramedic at ghoststar.net. He currently resides in Brooklyn.

Reviews for Dactyl Hill Squad

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

DACTYL HILL SQUAD was an entertaining historical fantasy. Imagine dinosaurs roaming the land in 1863! This story takes place in New York City. Magdalys Roca lives at the Colored Orphan Asylum. She was brought there with her sisters and brother when she was young. Her sisters were taken away and her brother Montez decided to join the Union Army. He was injured while serving in the African Brigade of the 9th Louisiana Regiment, Mounted Ceratops Division. He has been taken to New Orleans gravely injured. Magdalys is determined to go to him to nurse him back to health.However before she can leave New York, she has to survive the Draft Riots which covered blatant racist attacks on free Blacks in the City. She and her friends just happened to be at a theater performance when the Orphan Asylum was attacked, the custodian lynched, and the orphans grabbed by the Kidnapping Club to be taken South and sold into slavery.The make their way to Brooklyn and Dactyl Hill which is supposed to be a safe place for Blacks and is the headquarters of the Vigilance Committee. The committee recruits the kids to spy on the Kidnapping Club so that they can save the orphans before they are taken down South.Magdalys has a newly discovered talent. She is able to talk with the various kinds of prehistoric creatures. Her talent plays a major role in the resolution of this story. The book was filled with action. Magdalys's friends were all interesting people with their own talents and stories. I liked the combination of real history of New York City and dinosaurs. The notes at the back helped make clear what and who was real and which were inventions of the author's incredible imagination.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Weird, but highly engaging adventure in an alternative universe Civil War with Dinosaurs. It's an amazing meld of fast paced plot, great characters (who doesn't love an entire orphanage of heroes?) and some hard hitting history in between the fantasy elements. Be aware that there is a lynching, that the language is Colored Orphans Asylum, and that the fight is against the very real threat of freed persons being kidnapped and sold into slavery. There's a lot to talk about in this book, regardless of the thin veneer of wild adventure.

I particularly enjoyed that the orphans share many backgrounds -- Magdalys is Cuban, Amaya, half Apache and half white General's daughter, there is a trans pirate and a rainbow of fiercely appealing freedom fighters. I also delighted in the surreal collection of language -- from the Crunk's Shakespearean quotations, to the 1860's New York slang, to the modern phrasing that stitches through. Great read, great ride.

The only thing that bothered me was the chimney sweeping gig -- guerrilla sweeps that go chimney to chimney randomly sweeping would never be paid later. If you don't warn someone that you're about to sweep their chimney, you flood their entire home with soot.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

diverse children's middlegrade alternative-history adventure (Cuban-American orphan rescues fellow orphans from kidnapping slavers in Civil War-era NYC; also there is lots of dinosaur action).
Yes! More, please!!!!
I loved the characters (each with his own quirks), the mixture of dinosaur action and social justice. I appreciate that it included a trans-male character (Redd), without making a big deal out of it.

[eas7788 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Solid start to the series. I love the inventiveness and possibilities of the world he has created. It's a little clunky/forced at times, but that may be something I pick up more as an older reader.