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"My Dinosaur Adventure"
was created especially for
Takuya Kawai
at the age of 8
with love from
Grandma and Grandpa
April 25,2003 |
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Taku Kawai of Obihiro 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,
"Taku, I want to take you to the Land
of the Dinosaurs. Can you come with
me?" Taku said, "Wow! I would love to
go, but first I must ask permission and
leave a note for Fumiya, Mommy and
Daddy." Moments later, the unicorn
whisked him back in time to the Land of
the Dinosaurs. |
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When Taku 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 Taku.
"I don't have one,"answered the
plant-eating dinosaur sadly. "No one
has ever named any of us." Taku
thought for a while and then said, "I
will call you Stretch." |
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"Look at that mountain over there!"
shouted Taku, 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." Taku 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 Taku. "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." Taku told the
stegosaurus, "A great name for you
would be Spike." |
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Next, Taku 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, Taku 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 Taku. "I shall name you
Alli." Alli said, "Thank you," as she
handed Taku a branch of flowers. |
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Taku 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
Taku. "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
Taku. "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." Taku and Ariel chased after him.
"Wow! He is as fast as lightning.
That's a great name for him," shouted
Taku as he ran. |
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They ran and ran until they came to
some rugged, rocky cliffs. Lightning
showed Taku 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 Taku. |
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"I am!" echoed a voice, circling above
them. Just then a large
glided past them. Taku found it hard
to believe that a lizard could fly.
Its wing span was about as long as his
arm. Taku 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 Taku could not hear what they
were saying. |
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Taku, Ariel and the pterodactyl flew
back across the Land of the Dinosaurs
until they once more reached the
beautiful lake. This time Taku saw a
lot of activity at the water's edge.
Dinosaurs were decorating the beach
with streamers and balloons. Taku
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. Taku 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 Taku, "It's
for you!" shouted his new friends. Now
Taku knew what Ariel had whispered to
Dack. The dinosaurs realized that Taku
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 Taku that it was time to leave for
Obihiro. Taku was a bit sad, but could
hardly wait to tell Fumiya, Mommy and
Daddy about his exciting adventures.
Before he left, they all thanked Taku
for the nice names he had given them. |
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Ariel flew Taku home and said, "I also
have a surprise for you, Taku." In his
room, he found a dinosaur cake with a
personalized card signed by all the
dinosaurs. Taku 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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Taku Kawai
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, Taku?
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