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David Van Den Bogaard
in Dinosaur Land $22 ©Best

With love from,
Tony and Jen
Merry Christmas, 2007

One day, David was looking at pictures in his favourite dinosaur book.  A fierce tyrannosaurus rex with big, sharp teeth was wrestling another meat-eating dinosaur, called an allosaurus.  A pterodactyl, a huge lizard with wings, was flying in the air watching the battle.  David concentrated hard on the pictures.

The dinosaurs seemed to come alive.  A lizard with a long neck, fat body and huge tail stood beside a beautiful lagoon.  A brightly coloured spotted egg lay in a cosy nest near a friendly looking beast.  In the distance, a duckbill dinosaur, called a trachodon, walked on two legs chewing giant ferns.

 Suddenly David was in the tropical rain forest with the dinosaurs.  “Wow, the dinosaurs eat so much! I’m afraid they will eat me.” David said trembling.  “Are you as sweet as this palm tree?” somebody asked in a friendly voice.  “Who said that?” David wondered.  “I am a brontosaurus called Thunderfoot,” replied the long-necked lizard.

“Do you eat children?” David asked.  Thunderfoot lowered her long neck and examined David carefully.  “You don’t look very tasty,” Thunderfoot decided. “And I only eat plants.  Anyway, it’s time to go to sleep at the top of the mountain.”  The giant creature gently covered her egg and joined the other dinosaurs.

 The dinosaurs snored very loudly as they slept.  Suddenly David heard a much louder noise.  The mountain was exploding!  Fire and melted rock poured out of the volcano.  “Wake up, everyone! Wake up!” David shouted.   “Oh, please, we must hurry away from here and get to the water.”  The dinosaurs loudly lumbered to the safe lagoon.

 “We are safe, thanks to David,” the dinosaurs chanted.  The dinosaurs were so thankful they decided to have a party to honor David.  During the party, they danced and thumped their tails until the ground shook.  “What a wonderful celebration!” David said.  “I wish Michelle, Ella and Joe could join the fun.”

  Just then, David noticed a change in the brightly coloured spotted egg in the nest by the lagoon.  “Look over there!” called David.  “Thunderfoot’s egg is hatching!”  Snap! A little head poked through the top of the shell.  The sides broke away and out tumbled a baby dinosaur with a long neck, fat body and big lizard tail.

 A pterodactyl neighbor flew close to visit the baby dinosaur.  Thunderfoot and her baby walked toward the beautiful lagoon.  Other dinosaurs returned to the tropical rain forest.  “Please stay with us forever,” pleaded the dinosaurs.  David answered, “I would love to stay with you, but I can’t.  I must return to my home in Pukekohe, New Zealand.  Michelle, Ella and Joe will be worried.”

David closed his eyes and waved farewell to the dinosaurs.  When he opened his eyes, the pictures in his dinosaur book had changed.  The brightly coloured spotted egg was no longer in the cosy nest by the lagoon.  Now, a brand-new baby dinosaur stood nose to nose with its proud mother, Thunderfoot.