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Though it may have looked
like Ally’s mother was waking a little girl up and helping
her out of bed on the first day of school, that wasn’t the
case at all. What looked like a girl was really an Ally-Saurus,
a fierce and dangerous dinosaur.
Minutes after rising, Ally-Saurus
took off her dino jammies and put on her new dinosaur shirt
and striped pants – backwards. That was so her “dinosaur
tail can stick out,” she told Father. He made her put her
clothes on the correct way, which made Ally-Saurus ROAR
before she ate her breakfast with “fierce teeth.”
Would there be other
dinosaurs in school? Mother wasn’t sure about that, but she
thought there might be a chance to make friends – and the
first friend Ally-Saurus made was her new teacher, Mrs.
Woolhandler.
But the other kids…? They
were a little tougher. The whole class made nametags for
their cubes but Ally-Saurus was the only one who made a
nametag in the shape of a dinosaur. Mrs. W taught the class
about the weather but when Ally-Saurus said a cloud looked
like a dinosaur, someone else saw something else. Ally-Saurus
thought everybody liked dinosaurs but it turned out that a
lot of girls liked princesses better.
They liked princesses so much
that they wouldn’t let an Ally-Saurus sit with them, so she
had to sit by herself at an empty table in the lunchroom. If
only she could be at home with her dinosaur toys. At least
they’d eat lunch with her. Would a fierce Ally-Saurus
ever be able to find friends at school?
Remember your first day of
school? It was a pretty big day and no matter how much Mom
prepared you for it, you were probably still a little
nervous. If your child is facing the same jitters before
class starts, then you need Ally-Saurus & the First Day
of School in your home.
It’s easy to fall in love
with Ally-Saurus. From the jaunty ponytails and the
self-assured smile, to the pink dinosaur scales across her
head and down, she makes kids (and parents) smile. What I
liked absolutely best, though, was the way that author
Richard Torrey depicts a child’s pretend-world. Ally-Saurus’s
dino-personality is clear to her and, eventually, it’s clear
to everyone who’s able to become someone (or something) much
more fun.
This book is a delight and I
think your four-to-seven-year-old will love it. For children
with good imaginations or for any kid heading to class this
fall, Ally-Saurus & the First Day of School will make
them roar. |
