I read these books as a kid – it had a purple monster with an inflatable trunk(like an elephant)?
The story was somehow a brother and sister have to go back in time to rescue their father who got sent back to the dinosaur age. When they get to the dinosaur age they find this creature that becomes a friend. It is a 4 legged big bushy purple monster with an elephant trunk. The monster can inflate his trunk to fly and help solve other problems as the 3 go looking for the kids father?
I finally found this elsewhere on the site. The key word was Jurassic period.
The book is Stan McMurtry, The Bunjee Venture
We can close this one. Thanks for helping us find old beloved books!
Definitely sounds like Stan McMurty’s “The Bunjee Venture” Andy & Karen Winsbarrow go back in time to rescue their father, an eccentric inventor who had built a time machine, went off exploring and gotten lost. While looking for him among the dinosaurs, they meet the friendly Bunjee, who looks like a small earless elephant covered with fur. As you noted, the Bunjee is able to fly by inflating his trunk into a balloon, and he does help his young friends find their father. Later, he returns to the present with them, carrying two eggs holding baby Bunjees, hoping to raise them safely (apparently they are quite rare even back then). But Bunjee isn’t happy in our age, so the children help send him back to his own time.
This has been made into a cartoon, as well. Hope this helps.