“Story-O-Saurus
Land”
Read the Story
Words
in red are the personalized words
Note: Story shown here may not be exact.
was created especially for at the age of 5 With Love From, Mommy & Daddy August 25, 2001 {pg3} One night, Adam
Willett was having trouble falling asleep. He
tried lying on his back, then on his front, and then on his
side; but he was not able to sleep. In his
mind, Adam even tried to count dinosaurs to make
himself sleepy. He
began to hope that someone would hear his
restlessness and offer some help. {pg4} Just then, his
bedroom door opened a little, and Adam heard the
voice of Dad. "Sounds as if you're having
trouble sleeping, Adam." "Yes, Dad,
I sure am," said Adam. "Would you please tell me a story about
dinosaurs?" In answer, Dad
smiled and walked to the side of his bed. {pg7} "All right. Now, Adam,
close your eyes and imagine with me," said Dad.
"Once upon a time, a little boy named Adam went on a picnic with Dad."
While they were preparing the picnic
lunch, Adam spotted a bunny at the edge of the
woods. {pg8} Trying to get a better look at the bunny,
Adam moved closer. But when the little rabbit
saw Adam, the rabbit dashed into the woods. Being curious, Adam followed.
Moving from behind one tree to another, Adam
tried to sneak closer. Then he saw the bunny hop
into a cave. {pg11} Adam
continued his search for the tricky little
rabbit, and followed it into the dark cave.
There, unable to see anything, Adam said,
"Where are you bunny? Please, make a noise so I can find you." {pg12} Hearing a strange sound, Adam went further into the blackness of the cave. All of a sudden, it was as if the floor
of the cave opened, and Adam found himself sliding down something, following the equally
surprised bunny. {pg15} As they came to a stop on what he thought was a hill, Adam
and the bunny looked at one another. Then they looked around at where they
were. They were in the middle of a swamp!
"Wow!" said Adam.
"We're certainly not in Plymouth, Michigan
anymore! Where are we?" {pg16} Suddenly, Adam
and the little rabbit felt the hill move! As they stared to the side, a huge
head appeared. No, it was not a hill for sure! They were
on the back of an animal! They had slid down its long neck. To their surprise, the gigantic creature
spoke, "I am Apatosaurus (ah-PAT-uh-sawr-us). You are in Story-o-saurus
Land now. In your world, I am as long as two school buses and weigh as much as
five elephants!" {pg19} Adam
interrupted the story. "I remember hearing about Apatosaurus. He's a
plant-eater. He used to be called
Brontosaurus and traveled in a herd with others grazing across the land. "That's right, Adam," Dad
said. "But, let's get back to our
story." The Apatosaurus told Adam and his bunny
companion to climb down his tail. "You will be able to jump off onto dry
land," said the gentle giant. {pg20} As soon as they climbed onto land, the
bunny ran after something it had seen. Adam followed and found the bunny next to a strange
little animal. Unlike Apatosaurus, this tiny dinosaur was actually only about
the size of a chicken! It was called
Compsognathus. (comp-sog-NATH-us) {pg23} Once more, the rabbit hopped away and Adam followed. This time, Adam
found the curious bunny looking down at something. It was a dinosaur nest, filled with eggs
the size of basketballs! As they stood
there, they heard angry, snorting noises to their side. {pg24} The sounds came from one of the 'horned face'
dinosaurs, triceratops. (try-SAIR-uh-tops)
It seemed as if the triceratops was afraid that Adam
might hurt the eggs which contained the triceratops' babies. Sensing danger, the bunny and Adam began to run. {pg27} Adam saw a
bridge ahead. He thought they could cross it to
safety. But as they ran onto it, Adam saw this
was not a bridge, but was the back of a stegosaurus! (steg-O-sawr-us) And the
sides were really bony plates on the dinosaur's back. Again, Adam
interrupted the story. "I remember
you telling me about those plates, and how they helped to keep stegosaurus warm
when it was cold outside, and cool when it was hot outside." {pg28} Adam and
the rabbit came down from Stegosaurus' back. Being plant-eaters, triceratops
and stegosaurus were no longer concerned with them. But, now the swamp trembled with a new sound. It was the roar of the most feared
dinosaur tyrannosaurus! (tye-RAN-uh-sawr-us) Adam
knew that this monster was now hunting for him
and the bunny. {pg31} The fearsome, meat-eating tyrannosaurus
rushed towards them! How were they to escape? Just then, Adam
and the rabbit heard the voice of Dad above,
from the hole in the cave floor: "Here, Adam!
I am here!" Turning to the voice, Adam felt something grab his
shirt. Quickly, he and the bunny left the
ground. A pteranodon (tair-AN-oh-don),
the flying reptile, lifted them out of reach of Tyrannosaurus! {pg32} The pteranodon carried Adam and the rabbit toward the voice of Dad. There was
also another sound. It was the voice of
Apatosaurus again. "Bring them to me!" he said to the
pteranodon. "Place them on my
head!" {pg35} The pteranodon placed Adam and the bunny on the huge head of
apatosaurus. Then, with a smooth, sure
movement, apatosaurus lifted them to the waiting arms of Dad. They had escaped from Story-o-saurus
Land! {pg36} "Well Adam,
what did you think of that story?" asked Dad.
"To tell the truth, Dad, I'm glad to be home. All that adventure made me
tired." And it seemed that almost as soon as those words left his lips, Adam fell
fast asleep, safe at home, and resting peacefully after his journey to Story-o-saurus Land. THE END
“Story-O-Saurus Land”
Adam Willett of Plymouth, Michigan