Lydia hugged her new purple sketchbook, pens, pencils, watercolors, and paintbrushes.
She jumped and twirled at the thought of making her very own ART.
But when she opened the sketchbook
... [+]
Rocco always knew he was a little different.
While other dinosaurs ran wild through the forest, Rocco spent his time in the kitchen wearing an apron and doing baking experiments.
Rocco was a baking machine. He could whip up muffins, cakes, brownies, cream puffs, and bread before most dinosaurs could swallow a pterodactyl egg.
Rocco's talent came in quite handy for family reunions and neighborhood block parties.
But everyone did get a little worried when Rocco used Aunt Edna's wig as a cake topper, and it caught fire from the birthday candles.
Every day, Rocco dipped his claws into new recipes--red velvet cake, crème brûlée, and even giant birthday cakes.
He especially amazed everyone when he used lightning bugs to make a cake that glowed in the dark.
But the kids at school would always tease Rocco on the playground.
While they played Tackle Dino Tag, Rocco made gigantic sand cakes and mud pies.
The T. rex triplets were especially rude to him, and they often sabotaged his recess baking with slimy rocks and stink bugs.
One day, Rocco saw a poster for a cake baking contest for the Dino County Fair.
He spent days perfecting his recipe and coming up with the best frosting and cake toppers.
On the morning of the contest, Rocco put the cake in a wagon and headed for the fair.
But as he passed by a park, he heard the T. rex triplets whining to their parents.
"How could you forget our birthday cake! Now our birthday party is ruined!"
Rocco looked at the girls, looked at his cake, and then thought about winning the contest at the county fair. He could feel the blue ribbon being pinned on his apron.
But then he heard one of the T. rex triplets whimper, "It's okay, I'm sure we'll get another birthday cake next year."
Next year? Rocco knew a year was too long to wait for a cake. He marched right over to the T. rex family and said, "Special birthday cake delivery for the T. rex triplets!"
The T. rex family gasped. The triplets all cheered and hugged Rocco.
Rocco's heart soared with happiness as he rolled his empty wagon home.
But later, a tear rolled down his dino cheek when he looked up at the empty spot on his apron where he had wanted to pin his blue ribbon.
Then he heard a commotion outside.
"Rocco Rocco! He's our hero!"
"Because you saved our birthday, we wanted to give you these thank you ribbons that we made ourselves," said one of the T. rex triplets, and they each pinned the colorful ribbons right on Rocco's apron.
The next day at recess, Rocco had several new assistants lining up to help him in his mud pie and sand cake kitchen.
Rocco still knew he was a little different.
But different in a way that was prehistorically delicious.