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"My Dinosaur Adventure"
was created especially for
Taro Suzuki
at the age of 8
with love from
Grandma and Grandpa
January 21, 2004
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Taro Suzuki of Hachiouji
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. |
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To his surprise, the unicorn spoke,
"Taro,
I want to take you to the Land
of the Dinosaurs. Can you come with
me?" Taro said, "Wow! I
would love to
go, but first I must ask permission and
leave a note for Mai, Mom
and
Dad." Moments later,
the unicorn
whisked him back in time to the Land
of the Dinosaurs. |
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When Taro and the unicorn arrived
at the
shore of the beautiful lake, an
apatosaurus(uh-pat-o-SORE-us) greeted
them. He was longer than a big school
bus. "What is your name?" asked Taro.
"I don't have one,"answered the
plant-eating dinosaur sadly. "No one
has ever named any of us." Taro
thought for a while and then said, "I
will call you Stretch." |
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"Look at that mountain over there!"
shouted Taro, 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." Taro added, "It's
also
very hot!" |
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While exploring, they met a stegosaurus
(steg-uh-SORE-us). "He sure does have
a lot of sharp points on his back,"
whispered Taro. "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." Taro told
the
stegosaurus, "A great name for you
would be Spike." |
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Next, Taro 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, Taro had
wanted to come here to learn as much as
he could about dinosaurs! |
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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 Taro. "I shall
name you
Alli." Alli said, "Thank you," as she
handed Taro a branch of flowers. |
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Tarou 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 Taro.
"You have given names to everyone today
except me," sighed theunicorn.
"Oh, I'm sorry.
Ariel wouldbe the perfect
name for you," said Taro. "I
love it!" smiled the
wide-eyed unicorn with a big grin.
"Thank you!" |
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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." Taro and Ariel chased
after him.
"Wow! He is as fast as lightning.
That's a great name for him," shouted
Taro
as he ran. |
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They ran and ran until they came to
some rugged, rocky cliffs. Lightning
showed Taro 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 Taro. |
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"I am!" echoed a voice, circling above
them. Just then a large
glided past them. Taro found it hard
to believe that a lizard could fly.
Its wing span was about as long as his
arm. Taro 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 Taro could not hear what
they
were saying. |
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Taro, Ariel and the pterodactyl
flew
back across the Land of the Dinosaurs
until they once more reached the
beautiful lake. This time Taro saw
a
lot of activity at the water's edge.
Dinosaurs were decorating the beach
with streamers and balloons. Taro
wanted to help decorate and wondered if
he could go to the party. |
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As they landed, a pentaceratops
(pen-tuh-SARE-uh-tops) rushed to greet
them. Taro 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!" |
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The dinosaurs were gathered around a
large two-tiered cake. "What a
beautiful cake!" exclaimed Taro,
"It's
for you!" shouted his new friends. Now
Taro
knew what Ariel had whispered to
Dack. The dinosaurs realized that Taro
had to return soon and had wanted to
help him remember his first visit to
the Land of the Dinosaurs. |
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After the party, Alli, the allosaurus,
told Taro that it was time to leave
for
Hachiouji. Taro
was a bit sad, but could
hardly wait to tell Mai, Mom
and
Dad about his exciting adventures.
Before he left, they all thanked Taro
for the nice names he had given them. |
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Ariel flew Taro home and said,
"I also
have a surprise for you, Taro."
In his
room, he found a dinosaur cake with
a personalized card signed by all the
dinosaurs. Taro hugged Ariel for
making
his secret dream come true and
told her how much he had enjoyed his
trip to the Land of the Dinosaurs. "I
will never forget what you have done
for me! Thank you for my fabulous
dinosaurs adventure." |
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Taro Suzuki
Here are the pronunciations for the
dinosaurs you have read about in MY
DINOSAUR ADVENTURE.. Use your book
to spell them correctly
(uh-pat-o-SORE-us)_______________________
(steg-ur-SORE-us)_________________________
(al-uh-SORE-us)____________________________
(komp-sog-NAY-thus)_____________________
(ter-uh-DAK-tuls)__________________________
(pen-tur-SARE-uh-tops)__________________
What other dinosaurs can you name, Taro?
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