This is the first draft of a few chapters of a picture book. My intent is to enter Julia's world and to help her give up her dinosaur identity and become a "real world." I expect to add many chapters. I would appreciate comments and suggestion
T-Rex Julia
Chapter 1 T-rex Julia comes home
page 1
Once upon a time, Mommy and Daddy wanted to adopt a little girl. Their friend, Betty, sent them the picture of a very beautiful little girl in China, and they wanted to meet her and make her their daughter.
page 2
In China, Mommy and Daddy and Cheshire met Mr. Xiao in a big room.
“Here is your daughter,” Mr. Xiao said.
Mommy and Daddy looked where Mr. Xiao pointed but they did not see the little girl in the picture. In fact, they did not see a little girl at all. They saw a dinosaur.
“Excuse me,” said Mommy. “Is this Xiao Zhi Kuang? We are here to adopt Xiao Zhi Kuang.”
“This is Xiao Zhi Kuang,” said Mr. Xiao and he pointed to the name tag around the little dinosaur’s neck. Sure enough the tag said, Xiao Zhi Kuang.
page 3
Mommy and Daddy were confused. All of the other parents who were adopting children were holding onto little girls and boys. No one else had a little dinosaur. But the dinosaur was cute and she did have the right name tag on.
page 4
Mommy and Daddy smiled with the little dinosaur. Xiao Zhi Kuang looked up at them. She was very scared but she smiled, and put her arms up to be picked up. She hugged Mommy and Daddy.
Mommy and Daddy adopted Xiao Zhi Kuang and named her Julia.
page 5
When Mommy and Daddy and Julia got home to the Puppy House, they went to see the doctor. Dr. Potter examined Julia’s eyes and nose and mouth and teeth and tongue and neck and arms and tummy and bottom and legs and knees and feet.
“Julia is a very healthy Tyrannosaurus Rex,” said Dr. Potter. “Most T-rexes lived during the Cretaceous period.”
Mommy and Daddy smiled proudly. T-rex Julia jumped up and down on the examining table.
Chapter 2 T-rex Julia gets scared of loud noises
page 1
When T-rex Julia came home from China, she had so much to discover and get used to. Most of the time discovering and getting used to her new home were fun, but sometimes it was frightening. T-rex Julia could get very, very scared. The scariest things of all were terrible, loud noises, especially thunder and ambulance sirens. When these noises attacked her ears, T-rex Julia did not know what to do.
page 2
Sometimes she would stand very still and scream and cry. Sometimes she covered her ears and screamed and cried. When she was outside and heard the terrible, loud noises, she would run inside the house and scream and cry. When she was inside the house and heard the terrible, loud noises, she would run and bury her head in a blanket and scream and cry.
page 3
Mommy and Daddy worried when they saw T-rex Julia so scared. They didn’t know how to make her feel better. They took her to an ear doctor. The doctor cleaned ucky wax out of T-rex Julia’s ears. After that, her ears were perfect. She could hear everything, including the terrible, loud noises.
page 4
Mommy and Daddy made a plan. Whenever they heard the terrible, loud noises that scared T-rex Julia, they dashed to her and held her very tight. They dashed to T-rex Julia during the day and during the night. They dashed outside in the garden and in the house. They even dashed to T-rex Julia and hugged her tight when they were in the supermarket and the swimming pool. Mommy and Daddy dashed a lot for a very long time.
Daddy also explained how thunder worked to T-rex Julia, and told her how ambulances help people who are very sick. Mommy bought T-rex Julia ear plugs, head phones, and two useful hats.
page 5
One day, T-rex Julia heard an ambulance siren and she dashed to Mommy.
“Mommy, you protect me from that noise? And I will be safe?”
“Yes, my T-rex Julia, I will always protect you. You are safe with me. Daddy will always protect you and keep you safe too.”
From then on, whenever terrible, loud noises scared T-rex Julia, she used her ear plugs, head phones, and useful hats, and she dashed to her Mommy or Daddy to be held tight.
T-rex Julia learned that her Mommy and Daddy always kept her safe, and they were very happy to protect her from all terrible, loud noises, even volcano noise. But that hasn’t happened yet.
Chapter 3 T-rex Julia’s tail
page 1
T-rex Julia had a beautiful tail. It was long and green, with scales in shades of green and gold and a little purple. She loved her tail but sometimes it was a problem.
page 2
T-rex Julia’s tail bumped into tables, into doors and down stairs. It knocked over glasses of milk, bowls of nuts, and vases of flowers. It did not fit into or over underpants, or tights, or stretch pants, or pajamas, or skirts, or skorts, or dresses, or snow pants.
It was awful. It made T-rex Julia very grumpy. And when T-rex Julia was grumpy, the world was a very noisy place.
page 3
“MOMMY,” T-rex Julia yelled very loudly in a very grumpy voice.
“What’s wrong, T-rex Julia?” Asked Mommy, who had a cup of raspberries in her hands. “Would raspberries make you feel less grumpy?”
“Maybe,” said T-rex Julia who loved raspberries. She reached into the cup and put a whole handful of berries in her mouth. “I hate everything,” she said as she chewed.
“Everything? What is everything?” Asked Mommy.
“My tail can’t go down stairs without hurting. It knocks over my milk before I drink it. It loses crayons and your stuff when it knocks against the coffee table. It doesn’t fit into any of my clothes. Arg-g-g-g-g! Everything!”
“Well, that doesn’t sound like everything. It sounds like you are having trouble with your beautiful tail. And that we can fix.” Mommy grabbed the second to the last raspberry and popped it into her mouth.
page 4
T-rex Julia popped the last raspberry into her mouth. “Will I always have problems with my tail?”
“I don’t know.” Mommy didn’t say anything for a minute. She was thinking. “Maybe one day you won’t need you dinosaur tail.”
T-rex Julia’s eye grew wide with wonder. “What will happen then?” She sat close to Mommy because losing her tail scared her a little bit.
“Then your tail will get smaller or fall off,” said Mommy.
“Will it hurt?”
“No,” said Mommy. “In fact, it might feel good to be free.”
page 5
“When will it happen, Mommy?” T-rex Julia didn’t know how to feel. It would be a relief to get rid of this big tail that she had to drag around all the time, but her tail was part of her dinosaur-ness. She felt very confused.
“It will happen when you are ready and not before. For now, let’s practice holding your tail up when you walk down stairs. Let’s make more room around the furniture so you can walk around without bumping into things. And I will fix all of your clothes so they fit your tail just right.” Mommy smiled and hugged her just right T-rex.
T-rex Julia smiled and wondered how Mommy understood all her problems with her tail. Maybe Mommy had a T-rex tail when she was a just right girl.
Chapter 4 I am T-REX JULIA
page 1
“NO-o-o-o-o-o! I am not a human girl,” roared T-rex Julia. “I am a dinosaur girl.” T-rex Julia stamped her big dinosaur claws on the wood floor and the whole house shook.
page 2
“I am T-rex Julia,” she shouted at her teacher and threw the bucket of erasable markers all over the classroom floor. “I am no human girl. No time. Not ever. Never.”
page 3
“I am not an ugly, ucky human. I am a beautiful dinosaur.” T-rex Julia said in a loud voice and with red, angry eyes to her friend, Amy, who came over to play games and paint a parasauralophus with her.
“Don’t call me a human girl.”
page 4
By the end of the day, T-rex Julia was exhausted from all the roaring, shouting, and talking very loudly. And she was grumpy. She insisted that T-rexes didn’t eat pizza even though pizza was her favorite meal and Mommy put pepperoni on it. T-rex Julia did not want to do home work, did not want to read, did not want to watch a nature show on the television, and did not want to go to bed. She wanted to sit on the living room floor and yell and shout and kick her feet.
page 5
Mommy took T-rex Julia upstairs to her bedroom. They both sat on T-rex Julia’s purple bean bag chairs, and Mommy put T-rex Julia on her lap. T-rex Julia did not want to sit on Mommy’s lap, so, she tried to kick, hit, pinch, bite, scratch, and head bonk Mommy. Mommy protected herself, and T-rex Julia was so frustrated that she cried. She cried and she cried and she cried.
page 6
When T-rex Julia was finished crying, Mommy asked, “Can you tell me why you are so sad?”
T-rex Julia said in a quiet voice, “because I hate my girl face, and I hate my girl nose, and I hate my girl hair. I hate China.”
Mommy hugged T-rex Julia very tight and stroked her dinosaur head. “I love your hair and your little nose and your face. I love China because that is where you came from. But how can I make you feel better.”
“I feel better if I’m a T-rex girl.” Julia looked up at her mommy and smiled just a little to show that she could feel better if everyone just let her be a T-rex girl.
“Well then, you will be a T-rex girl as long as you need to be.”
“Forever?”
“Sure, if that’s what you need.
page 7
T-rex Julia hugged her Mommy. She kissed her on the lips. Then the two of them went into the bathroom to brush their teeth and get ready for bed.
“I still needs to sleep in your bed, Mommy,” T-rex Julia said shyly.
“I thought so,” said Mommy and she gave her just right T-rex another hug. “Then that’s where we shall sleep.”
