Pleasant illustrations and a nicely-composed story that will help kids through their first school day jitters.

"What if it was time for lunch but Dinosaur said in his worried dinosaur voice, 'They might give us something yucky to eat.'
You'd say, 'We'll tell them that some dinosaurs are herbivores and don't like meat. Then you can have a salad instead of hot dogs.'"

Being a vegetarian, I was partial to that particular exchange... ( )

This is a sweet story about a dinosaur's first day of school. He was nervous, afraid, and worried that he wouldn't enjoy his new school. Would he make friends? Feel comfortable? After being at school for awhile he felt right at home! He even pushed his "new" friend on the swings!
This was a fun book to read because I think we can all relate to having "first day" experiences and feeling nervous and afraid. But, as the day progresses we usually feel much better and have even made a friend or two! I can relate to having the jitters and the children can too.
I would use this story as a "first day" read. After reading the story we would discuss how the dinosaur felt and how we feel on our first day. I would use this as an "ice-breaker" to sharing our feelings. I would have the children draw a dinosaur (focusing mostly on his face) on the front and the back. I would have each child share with the class what they drew and explain how the dinosaur felt when he first got to school (perhaps a sad face) and then how he felt as the day went on (hopefully a happy one).