Your child gets to experience this exciting Jurassic tale. It's a delightful book for young paleontologists everywhere!
-----------story content
This book was created especially for
Martin Lewis
at the age of 6
For my Dino lover!
Mom
2002
Martin Lewis of Portland had a special dream. His favorite books to read from the library were always those about dinosaurs, but he wanted to learn a lot more about them. As he was thinking about this, a beautiful white unicorn appeared at his bedroom window.
To his surprise, the unicorn spoke, "Martin, I want to take you to the Land of the Dinosaurs. Can you come with me?"
Martin said, "Wow! I would love to go, but first I must ask permission and leave a note for Marc, Judy and John." Moments later, the unicorn whisked him back in time to the Land of the Dinosaurs.
When Martin and the unicorn arrived at the shore of the beautiful lake, an apotosaurus (uh-pat-o-SORE-us) greeted them. He was longer than a big school bus.
"What's your name?" asked Martin.
"I don't have one," answered the plant-eating dinosaur sadly. "No one has ever named any of us."
Martin thought for a while and then said, "I will call you Stretch."
"Look at that mountain over there!" shouted Martin, pointing off into the distance. "Is it on fire?" he asked.
"Oh no, that's just a volcano," replied the unicorn. "Look all around you. The Land
of the Dinosaurs is filled with many, many volcanoes, swamps and fern jungles."
Martin added, "It's also very hot!" While exploring, they met a stegosaurus (steg-uh-SORE-us). "He sure does have a lot of sharp points on his back," whispered Martin.
"Those are called plates," said the unicorn. "A stegosaurus uses them for protection. They also trap heat from the sun to help keep them warm."
Martin told the stegosaurus, "A great name for you would be Spike."
Next, Martin and the unicorn entered a dense, humid forest where they found giant ferns and many reptiles of all sizes and shapes. While there, they heard a strange, snapping sound in the distance and cautiously crept closer to investigate. After all, Martin had wanted to come here to learn as much as he could about dinosaurs!
Not far away, they met an allosaurus (al-us-SORE-us). She had large teeth and stood on powerful, hind legs. A huge tail helped her to stand up.
"So you are the one who is making all that noise," said Martin. "I shall name you Alli."
Alli said, "Thank you," as she handed Martin a branch of flowers.
Martin was having so much fun in the Land of the Dinosaurs that he had not noticed that his friend the unicorn was crying. "Why are you crying?" asked Martin.
"You have given names to everyone today except me," sighed the unicorn.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Ariel would be the perfect name for you," said Martin.
"I love it!" smiled the wide-eyed unicorn with a big grin. "Thank you!"
As they were talking, a tiny compsognathus (komp-sog-NAY-thus), about the size
of a cat, raced past them and said, "You must follow me. There is something you will want to see." Martin and Ariel chased after him.
"Wow! He is as fast as lightning. That's a great name for him," shouted Martin as he ran. They ran and ran until they came to some rugged, rocky cliffs. Lightning showed Martin a nest along the top of one of the cliffs and directed him to get a close look. The nest contained three baby pterodactyls (ter-uh-DAK-tuls).
"Who is supposed to be taking care of these babies?" asked Martin.
"I am!" echoed a voice, circling above them. Just then a large pterodactyl glided past them. Martin found it hard to believe that a lizard could fly. Its wing span was about as long as his arm. Martin decided that Dack would be a fine name for a flying lizard. The father pterodactyl glided down to the nest. Ariel was quietly talking to Dack, but Martin could not hear what they were saying.
Martin, Ariel and the pterodactyl flew back across the Land of the Dinosaurs until they once more reached the beautiful lake. This time Martin saw a lot of activity at the water's edge. Dinosaurs were decorating the beach with streamers and balloons. Martin wanted to help decorate and wondered if he could go to the party.
As they landed, a pentaceratops (pen-tuh-SARE-uh-tops) rushed to greet them. Martin quickly counted the five horns on his head and decided to call him Penti. Then he asked if he could help them decorate.
"I want you to come with me, but for a different reason," replied Penti. "We have a surprise for you!"
The dinosaurs were gathered around a large two-tiered cake. "What a beautiful cake!" exclaimed Martin.
"It's for you!" shouted his new friends. Now Martin knew what Ariel had whispered to Dack. The dinosaurs realized that Martin had to return soon and had wanted to help him remember his first visit to the Land of the Dinosaurs.
Next, Martin and the unicorn entered a dense, humid forest where they found giant ferns and many reptiles of all sizes and shapes. While there, they heard a strange, snapping sound in the distance and cautiously crept closer to investigate. After all, Martin had wanted to come here to learn as much as he could about dinosaurs!
Not far away, they met an allosaurus (al-us-SORE-us). She had large teeth and stood on powerful, hind legs. A huge tail helped her to stand up.
"So you are the one who is making all that noise," said Martin. "I shall name you Alli."
Alli said, "Thank you," as she handed Martin a branch of flowers.
Martin was having so much fun in the Land of the Dinosaurs that he had not noticed that his friend the unicorn was crying. "Why are you crying?" asked Martin.
"You have given names to everyone today except me," sighed the unicorn.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Ariel would be the perfect name for you," said Martin.
"I love it!" smiled the wide-eyed unicorn with a big grin. "Thank you!"
