- Valley of the Giant Skeletons is the thirty-ninth book in the original Italian Geronimo Stilton series and the thirty-second book in the English Geronimo Stilton series by Scholastic.
Description[]
Tuslaarai! Tuslaarai! That's Mongolian for "Help!" and holey cheese did I need some! I was lost in the Gobi Desert, looking for a hidden treasure. So far, all I had found were sandstorms, camels, and giant dinosaur bones! Rat-munching rattlesnakes - how do I get myself into these situations?
Plot[]
The book starts with Geronimo at The Rodent's Gazette late at night trying to write a new book, but had no ideas. He had settled on a horror novel when suddenly, his lights turned off. In the dark, he heard someone call his name. Then, the lights turned back on, revealing that it was just Trap pranking him again. He had come to Geronimo with a piece of paper containing a large bone. It was a map of the Mongolian Gobi Desert that claimed to lead to a treasure. Trap took Geronimo to where he found it-a train coach that belonged to their very great uncle Wally who unfortunately got eaten by a croc in the Amazon. Trap wanted help in completing a treasure hunt that Wally had started, and being himself wanted some of the loot. Geronimo agreed to go.
Geronimo called up Benjamin and Thea about the hunt, which they happily agreed to. For information about Mongolia, he contacted Petunia Pretty Paws about this expedition. Soon they were on a plane, and Geronimo noticed a blonde haired rodent wearing glasses. Once arriving in Mongolia, they took a smaller and jankier plane and then a beat up-bus until riding on camel backs. After setting up a campfire, the other mouse introduced herself as Karina Von Fossilsnout, a paleontologist. When Geronimo calls Petunia about this, she is suspicious as Fossilsnout had once said that she doesn't like traveling.
The next day, Geronimo met a Mongolian mouse named Bondi Bobirat, who offers him a ride in a van of his. The rest of the Stiltons follow, despite their assumptions about Bondi to be rather shady. After a VERY long trip through the desert, they settle in for the night. When they wake up the next day, they discover Bondi and the rest of the camp gone. After traveling through the sweltering hot sand, the Stiltons get surrounded by a sandstorm. Luckily, 2 young native mice find the family and take them in to their home, where they are given food and water. During their stay, Benjamin paints up a map to the Valley of Giant Skeletons.
The next day, the 2 mice kids take the Stiltons to the Valley, where they stumble across the bones of a dinosaur. Geronimo calls up Petunia again, who explains that they found a skeleton of the dinosaur Tarbosaurus. After loading a box with the bones, Thea, Benjamin and Trap proceed to find assistance while Geronimo watched the crate. In the evening, Karina Von Fossilsnout appears, claiming to be heading back to New Mouse City's natural history museum. Suddenly, Petunia calls in a panic to Geronimo. She had just discovered that Fossilsnout wasn't traveling at all, meaning that the Fossilsnout with Geronimo right now was an impostor! To test the mouse's legitimacy, Geronimo quizzes her about Tarbosaurus's diet. Sure enough, the fake mouse demands that Geronimo give her the key to the dino box instead of giving the answer. All of a sudden, Geronimo is whacked on the noggin by a large bone.
When Geronimo becomes conscious again, he was tied up by the impostor and Bondi Bobirat, proving his family's suspicions. The fake Fossilsnout then reveals her true identity: The SHADOW. Luckily for Geronimo and unfortunately for Shadow and Bondi, the rest of the Stiltons and the Mongolian tribe from earlier arrive on the scene.
Subsequently, The Shadow and Bondi are taken away. As a thank you, the tribe's chief gives the Stiltons blue amber pendants. The mice then return to New Mouse City, where the Tarbosaurus is delivered to the museum, where the real Karina Von Fossilsnout thanks them.
Errors[]
- The Tarbosaurus skeleton shown on page 83 is actually of a Psittacosaurus, which was a primitive member of the ceratopsians, the horned dinosaurs that the also famous Triceratops belonged to.
Trivia[]
- In real life, Tarbosaurus was a member of the tyrannosaur family, and as such was a relative of the famous Tyrannosaurus.