The Dinosaur's Packed Lunch Read online

  Dinah crept away, feeling very empty. She wandered back to the iguanodon, sucking her thumb.

  "I wish I had a mum to make me a packed lunch," said Dinah.

  A hand reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

  A huge scaly hand with a spiked thumb!

  Also available by Jacqueline Wilson Published in Corgi Pups, for beginner readers: THE DINOSAUR'S PACKED LUNCH

  THE MONSTER STORY-TELLER

  Published in Young Corgi, for newly confident readers: LIZZIE ZIPMOUTH

  SLEEPOVERS

  Available from Doubleday/Corgi Yearling Books: BAD GIRLS

  THE BED & BREAKFAST STAR

  BEST FRIENDS

  BURIED ALIVE!

  CANDYFLOSS

  THE CAT MUMMY

  CLEAN BREAK

  CLIFFHANGER

  THE DARE GAME

  THE DIAMOND GIRLS

  DOUBLE ACT

  DOUBLE ACT (PLAY EDITION)

  GLUBBSLYME

  THE ILLUSTRATED MUM

  JACKY DAYDREAM

  THE LOTTIE PROJECT

  MIDNIGHT

  THE MUM-MINDER

  SECRETS

  STARRING TRACY BEAKER

  THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER

  THE SUITCASE KID

  VICKY ANGEL

  THE WORRY WEBSITE

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  www.jacquelinewilson.co.uk

  Illustrated by Nick Sharratt

  This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Adobe ISBN: 9781407043418

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  T H E D I N O S A U R ' S P A C K E D L U N C H

  A C O R G I PUPS B O O K 978 0 552 55782 5

  First published in Great Britain by Doubleday, an imprint of Random House Children's Books A Random House Group Company

  Doubleday edition published 1995

  First Corgi Pups edition published 1996

  This Corgi Pups edition published 2008

  1 3 5 79 10 8 6 4 2

  Text copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 1995

  Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 1996

  The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accotdance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

  The Random House Group Limited makes every effort to ensure that the papers used in its books are made from trees that have been legally sourced from well-managed and credibly certified forests.

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  Set in Monotype Bembo Schoolbook Young Corgi Books are published by Random House Children's Books, 6 1 - 6 3 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA

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  T H E R A N D O M H O U S E G R O U P Limited Reg. No. 954009

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Printed in the UK by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon, CR0 4 T D

  For Bunny, with lots of love

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One 3

  Chapter Two 14

  Chapter Three 31

  Chapter Four 44

  Series R e a d i n g Consultant: P r u e G o o d w i n R e a d i n g a n d L a n g u a g e Information Centre, University o f R e a d i n g

  Chapter One

  Dinah woke up early.

  She didn't feel like getting

  washed. She didn't feel like

  getting dressed. She didn't feel like going to school.

  "Boring," said

  Dinah.

  Dinah did not feel like

  breakfast.

  Not cornflakes and milk.

  "Boring," said Dinah.

  She made herself a j a m

  sandwich.

  "Yummy," said Dinah,

  rubbing her tummy.

  She fed the teddy on her

  nightie, too.

  Dinah wanted a drink but the

  lemonade was right at the top of the cupboard with Dad's beer.

  Dinah couldn't reach.

  Then she saw Dad's window-

  cleaning ladder.

  5

  Dinah nearly reached the

  lemonade.

  But then the ladder slipped.

  D a d woke up early, too.

  Dinah hated it when Dad got

  cross. She didn't have a mum or

  any brothers or sisters. Dinah just had her dad.

  "How am I going to clean the windows now?" said Dad. "And take that thumb out of your

  mouth, baby."

  Dinah always sucked her

  thumb when she was sad. Her

  special sucking thumb was

  starting to get a bit pointed.

  8

  Dinah was still sucking her

  thumb when she went to school.

  The boys teased her. Dinah got

  cross. There was a fight.

  Then Miss Smith got cross and

  sent Dinah indoors.

  Dinah had a little wash.

  Dinah's best friend, Judy,

  ended up having a little wash,

  too.

  Miss Smith got very cross and

  said Dinah wouldn't go on the

  school trip to the museum if she wasn't careful.

  "A museum?" Dinah muttered.

  "Boring."

  11

  Dinah's best friend, Judy, was

  still very damp. She didn't feel like sitting next to Dinah on the minibus. She sat next to

  Danielle, and they kept giggling together.

  Dinah had to sit next to Miss

  Smith.

  When they got to the museum

  Judy went off arm in arm with

  Danielle.

  "I don't care," said Dinah, sucking her thumb.

  13

  Chapter Two

  Dinah cheered up when they

  went into a special dinosaur

  exhibition. Dinosaurs were huge

  monsters who lived millions of

  years ago.

  Dinah liked the look of

  dinosaurs.

  14

  Some of the dinosaurs were

  very fierce and vicious. Judy and Danielle squealed. Dinah didn't

  mind a bit.

  The dinosaurs had huge long

  names to match their size.

  Dinah wasn't very good at

  reading but she found she had

  no problem spelling out

  brontosaurus . . .

  . . . and tyrannosaurus and

  triceratops.

  She particularly liked the

  iguanodon. It had a funny

  pointed thumb spike. Perhaps the iguanodon sucked

  its thumb, too.

  Miss Smith got cross because

  Dinah kept lagging behind. />
  "Hurry up, Dinah. It's

  lunchtime," said Miss Smith.

  19

  Everyone had a packed lunch

  except Dinah. Dad always

  forgot things like packed lunches.

  Sometimes Judy shared her

  packed lunch with Dinah. But

  not today.

  "Ooh, my mum's given me

  prawn sandwiches and a bunch

  of grapes and a Kit Kat and a

  can of Coke. Want half my

  Kit Kat, Danielle?" said Judy.

  20

  Dinah crept away, feeling

  very empty. She wandered back

  to the iguanodon, sucking her

  thumb.

  "I wish I had a mum to make me a packed lunch," said Dinah.

  21

  A hand reached out and

  patted her on the shoulder.

  A huge scaly hand with a

  spiked thumb!

  22

  The iguanodon reached down

  and picked Dinah up. It cradled

  her in its arms, rocking

  backwards and forwards.

  The iguanodon made Dinah

  her own packed lunch.

  She ate a leaf sandwich, a

  bunch of daisies, a twig snack

  bar and a bottle of dinosaur

  juice.

  The dinosaur juice was a very

  bright green. It tasted strange

  too, but Dinah drank a few

  drops.

  The iguanodon wiped Dinah's

  mouth in a motherly way.

  25

  "Dinah! Where are you?"

  Miss Smith was coming!

  Dinah jumped down and the

  iguanodon shot back into place

  with a rattle and a clunk. Miss

  Smith didn't see. She was cross

  with Dinah.

  Dinah was too dazed to care.

  All the other children were in

  the gift shop buying books and

  stickers and little rubber

  Dinah didn't have any money

  but she didn't mind. She didn't

  want a book or a sticker or a

  little rubber dinosaur.

  She had just had a dinosaur's

  packed lunch!

  27

  Dinah was very quiet on the

  bus going back.

  "You're not going to be sick, are you, Dinah?" Miss Smith asked anxiously.

  Dinah wasn't sure. She felt

  very strange. She sucked her

  thumb, but it tasted strange, too.

  She went to bed straight after

  supper. Perhaps she should have

  had a bath. Her skin felt strange now, hard and dry and itchy.

  29

  Dinah sucked her strange

  thumb and went to sleep. She

  dreamt very strange dreams.

  Chapter Three

  When Dinah woke, something

  even stranger had happened.

  She sat up and her head

  bumped against the ceiling! Her

  bed was so tiny she had to cram

  her knees right up under her

  chin.

  Her bedroom had shrunk in

  the night.

  No. Even stranger . . .

  Dinah had grown. She had

  grown and grown and grown.

  She had grown a long back and

  long legs and a long tail!

  32

  Dinah gasped and sucked her

  thumb. At least she still had a thumb.

  She wondered what to do.

  She decided she'd better tell

  Dad.

  She had to bend double to

  get out of her bedroom door

  and . . .

  edge along the hall, her head

  neatly sweeping up the cobwebs

  (Dinah and her dad didn't

  bother about dusting) . . .

  35

  and then she had to bend right

  down again to get into Dad's

  bedroom.

  "Dad. Dad! Wake up, Dad,"

  said Dinah.

  "What's the matter?" Dad mumbled. "Stop yelling at me, Dinah."

  36

  D a d peered out from under

  the bedcovers. He saw Dinah.

  D a d was the one who did the

  yelling this time.

  " A a a a a a a a a h ! "

  "A monster! A monster! Run, Dinah, there's a monster in my

  bedroom," Dad yelled.

  "Hey, Dad. It's me, Dinah.

  I'm the monster," said Dinah.

  "Well, I think I've turned into a dinosaur, actually. It feels a bit scary. Give me a cuddle, D a d . "

  38

  It was a bit scary for Dad,

  too. But he could see the huge

  dinosaur in his bedroom was

  wearing Dinah's nightie and

  talking with Dinah's voice.

  It was his daughter Dinah all

  right. So he gave her a cuddle as best he could.

  Then Dinah gave Dad a

  cuddle, which was much easier.

  It was fun being able to pick

  D a d up with her new arms.

  She'd have to remember to cut

  her claws though.

  Her new skin didn't need a

  wash but her arms ached when

  she cleaned all her new teeth

  with Dad's big clothes-brush.

  41

  Dinah was terribly greedy at

  breakfast. She ate a whole loaf

  of bread in one gollop and

  finished a jar of j a m with one lick.

  "Well, I'm a growing girl,"

  said Dinah, giggling.

  "I don't know how I'm going to afford to feed you now.

  Money doesn't grow on trees,"

  said Dad.

  42

  Luckily, Dinah liked eating

  trees. Well, the leaves and the

  smaller snappier branches. And

  privet hedges taste delicious if you're a dinosaur.

  Everyone got their hedges

  trimmed and their trees pruned

  for nothing.

  43

  Chapter Four

  D a d took Dinah to the doctor's.

  " C a n you cure my Dinah?"

  asked Dad.

  "I think you'd better take her to a vet," said the doctor.

  Dinah did a bit of doctoring

  herself.

  She cured a baby's hiccups

  and made an old lady's bad leg

  better.

  45

  Dad took Dinah to the vet's.

  "Well, she's certainly got a healthy appetite," said the vet.

  "I don't think there's anything wrong with her."

  "In that case you'd better go to school," said Dad.

  "Boring," said Dinah.

  But maybe school might be

  more fun today.

  She certainly caused a bit of

  fuss when she went in through

  the school gates.

  47

  Dad had to have a few words

  with Miss Smith.

  Miss Smith wasn't at all sure

  she could cope with this new

  Dinah.

  "It's OK, Miss Smith. I'll be ever so good," said Dinah.

  48

  Dinah did try to be good. She

  didn't talk in the (now very

  crowded) class, but when she

  started to get bored she gave her new long tail a little flick . . .

  which caused a bit of bother . . .

  and at playtime she fought the

  boys . . .

  51

  and splashed the girls B U T . . .

  52

  she somehow didn't get into

  trouble.

  Everyone wanted to play with

  Din
ah now.

  "Dinah's my best friend," said Judy.

  "I'll be best friends with

  everyone," said Dinah. "Hey, who wants a ride on my tail?"

  "Dinah's better than

  Disneyland!" said Judy.

  Dinah even gave Miss Smith a

  ride!

  When Dad collected her from

  school, Dinah helped him clean

  all the windows in the street.

  56

  People paid double

  to watch D a d

  climb up and

  down his new

  ladder.

  Dinah and Dad got very hot

  working so hard.

  "Let's go home and have a

  cool bath," said Dad.

  "Boring," said Dinah. "Let's go swimming."

  So Dinah and Dad went to

  the swimming pool. There

  wasn't much pool left after

  Dinah dived in!

  59

  Dinah made an excellent

  diving board and water fountain.

  It took D a d a very long time

  to get her properly dry.

  61

  D a d had fish and chips for

  supper.

  Dinah had leaves and privet

  and dandelions and nettles and

  long grass and a big bunch of

  flowers and fish and chips.

  "Yummy," said Dinah,

  rubbing her tummy.

  Dad tried his best to tuck her

  up in bed.

  Dinah sucked her new spiked

  thumb until she fell asleep

  and . . .

  63

  when she woke up she was a

  little girl again.

  "Boring," said Dinah.

  But she still had a nearly full

  bottle of dinosaur juice . . .

  T H E E N D

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  J A C Q U E L I N E W I L S O N is one of Britain's most outstanding writers for young readers. She is the most borrowed author from British libraries and has sold over 25 million books in this country.

  As a child, she always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first 'novel' when she was nine, filling countless exercise books as she grew up. She started work at a publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on Jackie magazine (which was n a m e d after her) before turning to writing fiction full-time.