I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.

A brilliantly funny story all about celebrating difference, from the stellar picture-book partnership of Julia Donaldson and David Roberts – perfect for young dinosaur fans everywhere! This week Miss Cochrane has introduced us to a new story called Tyrannosaurus Drip. The book is about two different groups of dinosaurs and the main character is poor Tyrannosaurus Drip. We have all enjoyed listening to this story and getting to know the different characters, good and bad! Although Tyrannosaurus Drip is another good work by Julia Donaldson I found that it didn't quite reach the same level as some of her other picture books. It's probably because she's written some fantastic prose in her other picture books, like The Highway Rat, that I found the mechanics of the prose a little disjointed at times. An example of this is the songs that either dinosaur family sing in the beginning of the book doesn't really continue or evolve through to the end - it's sort of left behind as an idea as the story moves along. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).

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We turned the narrative poem (The Spider and the Fly) into a playscript, by setting it out correctly and adding detailed stage directions. We then acted them out in assembly, for Years 5 and 6. Julia Donaldson is one of today's most popular writers. Her bestselling titles include The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child and Room on the Broom. Although she is best-known for her picture books, Julia also writes longer novels, plays and songs. She lives in Glasgow and spends a lot of time on stage performing her brilliant sell-out singalong shows!

As you re read the book encourage children to join in with the refrains such as ‘Up with rivers! Down with water!’ And ‘SPLASH!’ Talk about the story Join in as the dinosaurs stir up a dinosaurumpus! Instantly appealing, with bright and lively illustrations, and Tony Mitton's fantastic poetry and rhyming words. It related brilliant to our topic in science which was what animals eat. This story emphasises the herbivore & carnivore descriptions. We had amazing questioning to do with this. Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers. Really good fun! Our six year old loves the rhyming and reads this with great expression and enthusiasm! Adults will enjoy reading this or having their little ones read this to them.

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Tyrannosaurus Drip, Julia Donaldson and David Roberts’s brilliantly funny story about celebrating difference, is much-loved by little dinosaur fans everywhere. If your little one loves this fantastic rhyming adventure story, or just can’t get enough of dinosaurs, they’ll have fun with these Tyrannosaurus Drip kids activity sheets perfect for 4-6 year olds. We have more great ideas for indoor activities for kids here. This is a brilliant story emphasising that just because you are born into a particular society does not mean you will fit in there. There might be other people / places that you get along with better!