Hi kids and welcome to storytime.
Today we're reading Romeosaurus and Juliet Rex, a picture book by Mo O'Hara,
illustrated by Andrew Joyner.
Let's start reading.
Ne'r a tale made a child laugh more than Juliet Rex and her Romeosaur.
Once upon a time, 150 million years ago, two families,
both alike in lizardness, lived in the swamp land of Verona.
Romeosaurus's family were herbivores.
Yay, ferns for dinner, yay!
Juliet Rex's family were carnivores.
Yay, herbivores for dinner, yay!
You can see why the families really didn't get along.
One day,
Juliet Rex was stomping through the swampland on her way to the dinosaur ball.
"Do my arms look small in this?" she asked her nanny, Nurse-a-dactyl.
"Of course, dear," Nurse-a-dactyl answered.
Meanwhile Romeosaurus was clomping along with his friend Mercutio-tops
on his way to crash the ball.
Now usually when a stegosaurus and
a triceratops crash a ball, you would know it.
But this time they went in disguise, because it was a masked ball for
carnivores only.
The carnivores really knew how to throw a party, and
Juliet Rex was waving her tiny arms in the air like she just didn't care when
she spotted a dinosaur who she'd never seen before.
He swished his tail at her to say hello.
She thumped her tail back to say, I might be casually waving hi or
I might be just swatting a prehistoric bug, your call.
Romeosaurus went over, and the two dinos danced.
They giggled, they talked, they played, and they started to become friends.
"Do you want to get something to eat?" Juliet Rex asked as she led Romeosaurus
over to the buffet.
"Auntie Gladys!" Romeosaurus gulped.
Romeosaurus rushed to help Auntie Gladys off the buffet table and
take the apple out of her mouth.
"Wait, you're a herbivore?" Juliet Rex asked, taking off Romeosaurus's mask.
"And you're a carnivore?" Just then a fight broke out at the dinosaur ball.
Apparently Mercutio-tops had poked Juliet Rex's cousin, Tybalt Rex,
with his horns while dancing.
"You better go," Juliet Rex said, sneaking Romeosaurus out during the commotion.
"Will I see you again?" Romeosaurus looked back and smiled.
That night Juliet Rex looked out from her cliff top balcony.
"Romeosaurus, Romeosaurus, wherefore art thou, Romeosaurus?" "Pssst.
Down here," Romeosaurus answered.
"Stegosauruses aren't very good at climbing.
It's the tail, really, and the weight and the complete lack of claws to grip
anything." "There's a stone ramp over there," Juliet Rex interrupted.
" thanks." Once again they giggled and played and
talked and laughed, and they became true friends.
"My family would never want me to be friends with you," Juliet Rex said.
"I mean, I could never invite you over for dinner.
You would be the main course." "My family wouldn't like it either,
especially Auntie Gladys," Romeosaurus said, sighing.
"Then what can we do?" Juliet Rex wondered.
When Nurse-a-dactyl woke the next morning,
she found that Juliet Rex's bed had not been slept in, and she found a note.
"A herbivore is my true friend.
So off I go to Swamplands End." Nurse-a-dactyl flew down
to the herbivores' home and tapped her talon on the door.
Auntie Gladys answered.
"Aah!" she screamed, and then fainted.
Mercutio-tops pulled Auntie Gladys out of the way.
Nurse-a-dactyl showed him Juliet Rex's note, and
he showed her the note Romeosaurus left for him.
"You have always been a friend to me.
But a carnivore has set my heart free." Nurse-a-dactyl made a face.
"They're not very good at poetry, but they do seem to care a lot about each other,
even though they're so different." "They have bad poetry in common,
I guess," Mercutio-tops added.
"We need to find them.
They're headed for the tar pits, and that's dangerous for any dinosaur,
herbivore or carnivore." Nurse-a-dactyl flapped her wings and
carried Mercutio-tops above the swampland until they reach the tar pits.
They could see some things floating on the tar.
It was Romeosaurus's feathered hat and Juliet Rex's backpack.
"We're too late!" shrieked Nurse-a-dactyl.
"We should have let them be friends," Mercutio-tops cried.
"You're right," Nurse-a-dactyl sobbed, "then maybe they'd both still be here."
"But we are here," Juliet Rex said as she and
Romeosaurus came out from behind a boulder.
"My little dino!!!" Nurse-a-dactyl gathered Juliet Rex in for a wingy hug.
Mercutio-tops spluttered, "But your hat, the backpack." "We were just looking for
a big stick to fish them out with when you both showed up," Romeosaurus said.
"So can we be friends?" Juliet asked.
"And just to be clear, carnivore friends don't eat other friends,
right?" Romeosaurus added.
"I could never eat a true friend of my darling Juliet Rex," Nurse-a-dactyl said.
Then she whispered to Romeosaurus, "But if you break her heart,
you're in a sandwich by lunchtime, ya got it?" "So it's a deal.
Carnivores and herbivores will be friends," Mercutio-tops said,
and they all shook hands on it.
Well, except for Juliet Rex, as hers wouldn't reach, but
she nodded in agreement.
And they lived happily ever after.
Until...
That was Romeosaurus and Juliet Rex.
Thanks for watching.
See you next time for more storytime.