Joyce Milton - Dinosaur Days

Text copyright 1985 by Joyce Milton
Revised text copyright 2014 by Kent Milton
Cover art and interior illustrations copyright 2014 by Franco Tempesta All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York. Originally published in a different form by Random House Childrens Books, New York, in 1985. Step into Reading, Random House, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC. Visit us on the Web!
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RHTeachersLibrarians.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Milton, Joyce, author.
Dinosaur days / Joyce Milton ; illustrated by Franco Tempesta. (Step into reading. (Step into reading.

Step 3)
Summary: Illus. in full color. Difficult dinosaur names are simplified with phonics.
Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-385-37923-6 (trade pbk.) ISBN 978-0-375-97338-3 (lib. bdg.)
ISBN 978-0-307-97870-7 (eBook)
1. DinosaursJuvenile literature. I.

Tempesta, Franco, illustrator. II. Title.
QE861.5.M55 2014 567.9dc23 2013044052 This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient Leveling System. Random House Childrens Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read. v3.1 For my nieces, Kirsten and Erica
J.M.For my dearest cubs, Leonardo and Lorenzo
F.T. With thanks to Dr. Thomas R.

Holtz, Jr., Department of Geology, University of Maryland, for his assistance in the preparation of this book.

Sometimes people find bones of ancient animals. Some of these bones are from dinosaurs. The bones are like parts of a puzzle. When they are put together, you can see what a dinosaur looked like. The word dinosaur looks hard, but it is really easy to say.

Say: DIE-nuh-sor. Dinosaur means fearfully great lizard. Millions of years ago the world belonged to dinosaurs. In the days of the dinosaurs, there were no people. No dogs or cats. What animals were there? Turtles. What animals were there? Turtles.

Crocodiles. Fish. Dragonflies. The world was warmer than today, and very wet in some places. One of the very first dinosaurs was Panphagia (pan-FAYG-ee-uh). Panphagia lived in a forest.

The forest was full of giant reptiles. When these giants got hungry, they came after Panphagia. SNAP! went the giants jaws. SNAP! SNAP! Then Panphagia ran away as fast as it could on its strong back legs. Panphagia could eat leaves, meat, and bugs. Panphagia means eats anything. Panphagia was a small dinosaur. Panphagia was a small dinosaur.

It was about the size of a turkey. Dinosaurs came in many sizes. Some were small like Panphagia. Some were big. And some were very, very big. This dinosaur was as big as a house, longer than three buses, and as heavy as thirteen elephants! The name Argentinosaurus means lizard from Argentina. This dinosaur was as big as a house, longer than three buses, and as heavy as thirteen elephants! The name Argentinosaurus means lizard from Argentina.

That is the country where its bones were found. Argentinosaurus ate plants. Lots of them! Other dinosaurs hunted for meat to eat. One meat-eater was named Mapusaurus (MAH-poo-SAW-rus).