Ally-saurus & the First Day of School

by Richard Torrey

You can call her Ally-SAURUS! When Ally roars off to her first day at school, she hopes she'll meet lots of other dinosaur-mad kids in class. Instead, she's the only one chomping her food with fierce dino teeth and drawing dinosaurs on her nameplate. Even worse, a group of would-be "princesses" snubs her! Will Ally ever make new friends? With its humorous art, appealing heroine, and surprise ending, this fun picture book celebrates children's boundless imagination.

Genres: Picture Books, School, Friendship, Dinosaurs, Childrens, Back To School, Storytime

40 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 2015

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son discovered the second book when he was shelving it at his library (while I was out of town). I requested it, and this too. We both love the art style in both, with the kinda shadows of the child's imagination showing the reader what they're currently focused on.

I like that all the kids, even the princesses, know that there are lots of different roles to play-act. I'm sure even Walter will come around. He's my favorite character; he's exactly like me; low on creative imagination, high on appreciation for the simple things in life.

Now I'll actually read the second... I hope it's at least as good but I admit that I'm leery.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ally loves dinosaurs, so when she heads off to her first day of school she is hoping to find lots of other kids who love dinosaurs too. But Ally seems to be the only one who is chomping her snack like a dinosaur or answering questions with dinosaur answers. As she starts to talk with the other kids though, she discovers the things that they love too. But some of the kids are not very friendly, like the bossy threesome who loves princesses the best and who don’t let Ally sit at their table during lunch. So Ally sits by herself. She is joined quickly though by other children who want to sit with her and they love dinosaurs and dragons and lunchboxes and lions. Soon she has a group of kids to play with at recess, who are willing to run wild and roar along with her. Even the princesses who snubbed her end up playing along too.

Torrey captures the joy of imaginative play as a child where that subject is all the child thinks about and their major focus of their day. Ally faces her first day of school with positive feelings which is good to see. Torrey doesn’t overplay the negative encounter with other children in the class either, allowing it to unfold naturally and be remedied in the same way. Ally’s use of roaring and munching to make friends adds a silly element that is very welcome in the book, and it also shows the other children who seek her out what kind of girl she is.

Torrey’s art adds to the imaginative play piece of the story. With pastel and black and white illustrations, the imaginative piece looks as if a child drew it on with crayon. As Ally learns more about her classmates they too get their own crayon elements, so the boy interested in astronauts gets a helmet and the princesses get crowns. It’s a clever way to indicate that these are imaginary but still there

A positive and humorous look at the first day of school, this is perfect for sending your own imaginative little one off or for sharing during that first week of school. Appropriate for ages 4-5.

[Joanne Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. My. Excellent concept taking this overused topic and putting a new twist to it. Loved the illustrated representation of the MC's imagination. Loved the interplay between classmates. Loved the teacher's reaction and the gentle parental guidance. Loved the conclusion and the soft but insistent message that our way isn't the only way. Ally is so authentic and adorable. Avoids stereotypes. Awesome!

[Sagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is very funny if you like dinosaurs and monsters! I'm glad I tried another book by this author! --Sagan (6)

[Aneesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely how my 5yo sees the world.

[Vera Godley · Rating 5 out of 5]

First a quick glance through the book at Richard Torrey's delightful drawings. He uses color sparsely and in just the right places. It emphasizes what is important in that drawing.

The children are sketched with lines for smiles and dots for eyes. And their teacher wears big, bug-eye glasses. There are lots of stripes on kids in their shirts, dresses, and leggings. Typical of kids. And drawings that make kids comfortable because they, too, can draw dots for eyes and lines for smiles.

Ally loves dinosaurs and her vivid imagination - so typical of the young child - carries the dinosaur on her very person. She is Ally-Saurus and she goes to school for the first time.

She meets the other children and find they, too, have vivid imaginations and their imagination has made them princesses, pirates, astronauts and other creatures and persons. Some don't want a roaring dinosaur around them, but soon they all discover that friends understand that each likes different things.

I just love Ally-Saurus. She will find her way into your, and your child's, heart and will help you to help your child enter their own first day of school.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy to facilitate this review from Sterling Publishing. Opinions are mine, alone. I received no compensation. The giveaway copy is also provided by Sterling who will send it to the winner.
at 12:00 AM 0 comments Links

[Regina L · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a child is little, they want to be all sorts of things: artists, baseball players, doctors, astronaut, princesses. Ally wants to be a dinosaur. She gives herself the moniker Ally-sasurus and immerses herself in all things dinosaurs would do. Say “Roar!” instead of hello, chomps down her lunch, and more!

This is the perfect book for your creative, imaginative child who has an imaginary friend of their own or perhaps who like to wear the same superhero costume everyday; they will relate to Ally-saurus! This is also a good book for your child as they start school for the first time or head back, with themes of making new friends and getting along with classmates despite differences in likes and dislikes.

The illustrations are drawn in a gentle and pleasing black and white. Each child gets a pop of color as we see their personality and preference towards what they want to be emerge! Ally’s pink dinosaur tail is drawn down her back and as classmates show preferences for princess or astronaut or pirate life, we see a crown or helmet or pirate hat adorn their heads. This is a very clever idea for an illustration and I appreciate its uniqueness, as well as the diversity of characters and personalities that are celebrated. Read more at www.diapers-and-daydreams.com !

[Laura Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whimsical and fun. Encourages individuality. Highly recommend.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely picture book that rolls together a number of divergent themes rather nicely, including first day of school, imagination, books, fitting in, and friendship.

[Laura Mossa · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the very first page, the reader knows that Ally loves dinosaurs. Author-illustrator Richard Torrey uses crayon sketching to draw spikes and a tail on Ally, known as Ally-saurus, to convey her affinity for the extinct creatures. Ally-saurus outwardly shows her dinosaur love by dressing in a dinosaur T-shirt and putting on her dinosaur backpack before heading to school for the first day.

At school, Ally-saurus chomps, roars, and makes a dinosaur nameplate. She is surprised that she is the only dinosaur and is out-numbered by princesses. Sitting alone at lunch, Ally-saurus wishes she could eat with her stuffed animals. But then 3 children join her lunch table-Cindy, a dragon, Jason, a lion, and Walter who loves his new lunch box. Ally-saurus soon learns that she can fun with other animals and even princesses.

My favorite part of the story is when Ally-saurus and her class visit the library. Richard Torrey shows each child’s interest using crayon drawings and the children’s excitement about finding a book warms this reading specialist’s heart. Will Ally-saurus choose a dinosaur book to take home or could another animal spark her interest? Read the book to find out!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an adorable book. So, Ally loves dinosaurs and imagines herself as such. She thinks about them all day long. When a boy reveals that he is making a spaceship in art, not a dinosaur, Ally's shock is evident in her body language. Each child on the first day of school reveals their inner cowboys, princesses and dinosaurs. The character's imaginary selves, alter egos or what have you, are drawn in a childlike crayon style around the character. When the princesses only allow other princesses to sit at their table, Ally is hurt. But, like any kindergartener, she works her way through the social dramas and makes friends. She even plays with the princesses, all previous hurts forgotten. It's a sweet story about a five-year-old doing everyday things and exploring the world around her.

[Emily Banks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Richard Torrey's book, Ally-Saurus and the first day of school was a story about a girl that imagines herself as a dinosaur. She goes to school and meets all these people that imagine themselves as different things. She reads books at the end of the day that bring her to change her mind about dinosaurs and move on to bunnies. I personally did not enjoy this book much. I thought Ally was a little selfish and rude to authority. I wouldn't use this book in my class because I don't think it sends a great message to the students.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars--This is an absolutely delightful celebration of imaginative play. As a kid who often imagined myself as a dinosaur and everything else under the sun, I know I would have enjoyed and related to this book. It was sweet to watch Ally realize that not everyone may love dinosaurs as much as she does, but they have other things they enjoy, and everyone can use their imagination to play together.

Veg*n parents note: A reference to a baloney sandwich as being "what dinosaurs eat."

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ally loved dinosaurs, he thought she had a tail and pointy spines going from her neck, then down her back to her tail. It was the first day of school, she stomped and roared. She had fun meeting other children, they were dragons, an astronaut, princesses, a lion, and many more. She played with her friends and had a great time. She picked a book from the library and after she read the book, she wanted to be a _____?

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about Ally who goes to school and pretends to be an ally-saurus dinosaur and other children watch and decide to join her with their idea of who they want to be a princess, and astronaut, etc. Nobody puts Ally down or changes her mind. Acceptance of differences is a good reason to read this aloud to kindergarten and all young children. Imaginative play is to be encouraged.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't crazy about this book when I read it, but reading others reviews gave me new insight.
Use it to demonstrate inclusion, friendship, responding to those who are different, acceptance.
ok for grades 5-8 book-a-day

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute back-to-school book.

I especially love the way the kids are drawn in pen & ink and then a crayon-ish outline surrounds that showing what they're pretending to be (dinosaur, princess, lion, etc.).

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about the first day of school and how you might not make friends with everyone but that you will find a group that is for you.

My nephew said his favorite part was when Ally met her friends that also liked dinosaurs and when she became a bunny.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was a delight. I want to live in this world where all the kids’ imaginary favorite things are drawn on their bodies!!! (And I love Ally… and Walter.) I would have given the book 5 stars if it had more diversity.

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming story about a little girl who imagines herself to be a dinosaur & her first day of school. I also really enjoyed the secondary character, Walter, who loves his new lunchbox and wants to find a library book about lunchboxes. So much fun!

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darling story about the first day of school!

[Britt, Book Habitue · Rating 5 out of 5]

So So SO cute!!! We loved this one!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun series about a little girl with a love for dinosaurs and a great imagination.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this one 4 stars for the creative illustrations. The story was fine too, about each of us or kid liking different things. But I liked the illustrations best of all.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linc really enjoyed this story once all the other kids' wishes for what they like were revealed.

[Kelly Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great little read about being yourself and finding your tribe.

[Breanna Leonard]

This book kind of reminded me of Junie B Jones. Ally is a fun and spunky little girl who is experiencing her very first day of school. The character Ally was very spirited and creative, and I think a lot of kids could relate to that. I like how to the teacher was very accepting of her and that she was inclusive to other kids. As a teacher, I think my kids in my class would enjoy reading this book because this book is relevant to most kids and classrooms. I think on the surface it is a silly book, but underneath it is about being yourself and appreciating others for who they are.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ally loves dinosaurs. She loves them so much that she calls herself Ally-sauras. On her first day of school, Ally-sauras worries that is no room in her new dinosaur backpack for her stuffed dinosaurs. Reluctantly she goes to school without them.

At school she meets other children. It seems that all the little girls at school want to be princesses. At lunch Ally-sauras sits at a table alone wishing she had her stuffed dinosaurs to there to keep her company.

As the day goes by Ally-saurus meets children who love dragons, lions, spaceships and lunch boxes. Before the day is over, she learns that pretending allows you to fly on dragons or in space ships, chase away pirates and make friends.

[Richard Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only are all of Ally's best friends dinosaurs, she's pretty certain that she's a dinosaur as well.

Why else would she have ridges and scales and a dinosaur tail? Even if she is the only one who can see them?

It turns out she's not alone in seeing her dinosaur parts, though. We readers also can see the child-like crayon drawings of Ally's tail and scales, along with the make-believe worlds of the new best friends she's about to make. It's a wonderfully subtle move by Richard Torrey, author and artist of Ally-Saurus & the First Day of School, that shows readers both the reality of the first day of school coexisting with the fantasy life of young children.

Written for children ages 3 to 6, Ally-Saurus follows young Ally as she wakes up for her first day of school ever. She wears dinosaur pajamas, has stuffed dinosaurs for friends and wears dinosaur clothing and a dinosaur backpack.

She likes dinosaurs.

Ally even thinks she is a dinosaur. She makes sure to wear her pants in just the right way so there's room for her dinosaur tail to stick out.

When Ally gets to school, she quickly finds out that not everyone is as aware as she is of the sheer awesomeness of dinosaurs. There are -- gasp -- even people who like princesses more than dinosaurs. Or lions even! Or dragons! Or. . . lunchboxes. (Walter is a bit of an odd duck.)

As Ally meets each new classmate, she finds out what they love most of all. As she does, a new crayon drawing springs into existence around them. As noted, it's a cute way Torrey shows readers that fantasy and reality can coexist in the minds of young children with no drama at all.

As the day wears on, Ally finds herself at odds with the princesses. They don't see what's so wonderful about dinosaurs that eat grapes with fierce teeth and roar so loudly one cannot keep one's mind on the wonderful princess-y snacks they brought to school.

Though Ally has to sit at an empty table, it soon fills up with new friends. None of these new friends like dinosaurs as much as does Ally, but they each love something. One loves lions. One loves dragons. And one loves . . . lunchboxes. (Walter's still a bit of an odd duck.)

After recess, Ally and the rest of the class go to the library for the first time. They can't believe their luck.

Ally, especially, is wonderfully excited. They have books about dinosaurs. But on the way to the dinosaur books, Ally is sidetracked by books about bunnies. . .

The next day, when Ally wakes up, her dinosaur tail is gone. Her scales are gone. Instead, she has large, floppy ears and a cotton tail sticking out of her pajamas.

Ally-Saurus & the First Day of School by Richard Torrey is a wonderful book for young and young readers. With a marvelously direct plot that most adults will see coming from the second page, the book still has surprises for the younger set. I was especially taken by the crayon drawings of each child's favorite thing Torrey used to adorn the more realistic black and white drawings of the people and environment.

This is a tremendous book and was a big hit with the young folks I subjected to my reading of the book. I'm almost certain that -- at the end -- they were cheering for the book rather than because I was letting them go.

If you have a young reader, or a young child who just loves a good story well-told, then Ally-Saurus & the First Day of School is well worth your time and money. Go get one now.



I received a review copy from the publicity agency hired by the book's publisher. I am donating my copy to The Fletcher School, a private school in Charlotte, NC, for children with learning disabilities and ADHD.

[Sue Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ally is a girl who knows what she likes — dinosaurs! Her pajamas have dinosaurs. Her first day of school outfit has a dinosaur. She even insists that her new teacher and her classmates call her Ally-saurus.

Her one worry is that she won’t find another dino-crazy kid to be her kindergarten friend. There are princesses, pirates, a lion and even a boy who loves his new lunch box but no one who loves dinosaurs as much as she does.

But as she sits down to a solitary lunch, she is surprised to be joined by a dinosaur, a lion, and Walter, the boy who loves his lunch box. For the rest of the day, she plays games with astronauts, cats and more as she gets to know her new friends. It isn’t long before she realizes that she may be Ally-saurus but there are other things she likes as well.

As a parent, I loved this book. It reminded me of when my now 16-year-old would only answer to Bob. You didn’t have to use his full name – Bob the Builder – that would be too formal but he did insist on Bob.

This book explores first day jitters, new friendships, and fascinations all without calling them by name. Richard Torrey just introduces us to Ally and lets us follow along on her first day.

For his illustrations, Torrey combines oil base pencil and watercolor with digital media for a style that is reminiscent of his work as an editorial cartoonish. I especially love the bright crayon-like sketches around each black and white figure that hint at his or her passion.

This would be a great book for story time — be prepared for some serious roaring — but it isn’t so rowdy that it wouldn’t make a good one-on-one book as well.

Originally reviewed on The Bookshelf (suebe2.wordpress.com).