my dinosaur book
by Matthew Stolte
i had a green notebook
when i was a kid.
i loved dinosaurs and i traced them
page after page
into my notebook
until it was full. i added
the pronunciation in parenthesis
and a small sentence
copied from the book of dinosaurs
as well. i drew tyranosaurus on the back
of the notebook
but it wasn#8217;t very good.
the teacher asked us to take out a piece of
paper.
i asked around for some paper
but all they did was laugh at me.
#8220;You#8217;re stupid,#8221; they said
#8220;you wasted your whole notebook!#8221;
i was ashamed.
last summer i got sick
and put my car into the ditch.
a policeman went through my box of old stuff
i had left in the back seat.
he made a mess of it.
he probably didn#8217;t think anything much
of my dinosaur book either -
my first book.
the book i made back in the second grade.
