Evelyn loved to explore. One breezy afternoon, Evelyn and her mom were playing hide and seek in their Chicago apartment. Evelyn’s mom peeked around the corner, “Hmmm, I wonder where that silly goose Evelyn could be?” she said with a giggle. Evelyn was tucked behind her favorite sparkly purple blanket. She held her breath, trying to be very, very quiet. She heard something rustle behind the blanket and thought it was her mom, so she jumped up and shouted, “BOO!”
But it wasn’t her mom! It was a big, brown book she had never seen before. Evelyn opened the book. The pages were filled with colorful pictures of a castle and sparkly bones. “Wowzers!” exclaimed Evelyn! A big, booming voice echoed from the book, “Do you want to see something amazing?” Evelyn, being a brave explorer, shouted, “Yes! Yes, I do!” Suddenly, Evelyn and her mom were sucked into the book! They spun around and around and landed with a soft thud in front of a magnificent castle.
It was an enchanted castle, just like in the book! The castle was enormous, with tall towers reaching for the sky. Evelyn counted them… one, two, three, SEVEN towers in all! They sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow. “Wow, Mom! Look!” Evelyn shouted excitedly! Evelyn’s mom was a little bit scared, but Evelyn was so excited that she held her mom’s hand tightly and said, “Don’t worry, Mom, I will take care of you!”
Evelyn saw a sign in front of the castle that read, “Welcome to Dinosaur Land.” Evelyn loved dinosaurs, so she skipped excitedly towards the castle, pulling her mom along with her.
The big, heavy, wooden door to the castle creaked open. The inside of the castle was dark and a little bit spooky! Evelyn and her mom walked slowly into a large room. The room was filled with piles and piles of bones. Some of the bones were small, and some were taller than Evelyn! And, they sparkled! “Look, Mom! Dinosaur bones!” Evelyn shouted. They looked closer. Next to one of the piles of bones was another sign that said, “Please be respectful of my bones. I was once a mighty dinosaur!” Evelyn looked at her mom and her mom nodded.
“Mom, how can we be respectful?” Evelyn asked. Her mom said softly, “Being respectful means that we don’t touch. We use our eyes to see and our ears to listen. We can be respectful of the dinosaur by not climbing on his bones.” Evelyn nodded. Being respectful was important. They wanted to be good visitors.
Suddenly, the bones began to shake and rattle! The bones magically flew together, right before their eyes, and formed a giant T-Rex! The T-Rex stomped his feet and roared, “BOO!” Evelyn and her mom were surprised, but they weren’t scared! Evelyn was a brave explorer! The T-Rex smiled and said, “Thank you for being respectful of my bones. You are kind visitors.” The T-Rex leaned down low and gave Evelyn a big, toothy grin. He whispered, “You’re a brave explorer, Evelyn, just like me!”
Evelyn and her mom spent the rest of the day playing hide and seek with the T-Rex in the enchanted castle. When it was time to go home, the friendly T-Rex gave them each a sparkly bone to remember him. He winked at Evelyn and said, “Remember to always be respectful and brave, little explorer!” Evelyn and her mom hugged the T-Rex goodbye and were magically transported back to their living room.
