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Ryan Wallace, age 7, of Bangor, loved to play with dinosaur toys. In his room there were many of them: big ones, little ones, tall ones and short ones.

Martin, Mark and Darren knew how much he loved dinosaurs. One day, Ryan 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 winds, was flying in the air watching the battle. Ryan 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 cozy nest near a friendly looking beast.

In the distance, an duckbill dinosaur, called a trachodon, walked on two legs chewing giant ferns. Suddenly Ryan was in the tropical rain forest with the dinosaurs. "Wow, the dinosaurs eat so much!
I'm afraid they will eat me," Ryan said, trembling.

"Are you as sweet as this palm tree?" someone asked in a friendly voice. "Who said that?

" Ryan wondered. "I am a brontosaurus called Thunderfoot," replied the long-necked lizard.

"Do you eat children?" Ryan asked. Thunderfoot lowered her long neck and examined Ryan 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 Ryan heard a much louder noise. The mountain was exploding! Fire and melted rock poured out of the volcano.

"Wake up, everyone! Wake up!" Ryan 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 Ryan," the dinosaurs chanted. The dinosaurs were so thankful they decided to have a party to honour Ryan. During the party, they danced and thumped their tails until the ground shook. "What a wonderful celebration!"

Ryan said. "I wish Martin, Mark and Darren could join the fun." Just then, Ryan noticed a change in the brightly coloured spotted egg in the nest by the lagoon. "Look over there!" called Ryan.

"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 neighbour 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.  Ryan answered, "I would love to stay with you, but I can't. I must return to my home in Bangor.

Martin, Mark and Darren will be worried.

"Ryan closed his eyes and waved farewell to the dinosaurs. When he opened his eyes, the picture in his dinosaur book had changed. The brightly coloured spotted egg was no longer in the cozy nest by the lagoon.

Now, a brand-new baby dinosaur stood nose to nose with its proud mother, Thunderfoot.