Rex Zero and the End of the World
by Tim Wynne Jones

Rex is facing a difficult summer, moving to a new town where he doesn't know any kids and won't likely meet many potential friends until school starts in September. It's also 1962, and there's a lot of tall about bomb shelters. The Cold War is on and Canadians are well aware of the threats around the world. At the local park Rex encounters two mysteries: a seemingly crazy man asserting that the world is about to end, and a dark creature that others think is a missing zoo animal.