Can I Have a Stegosaurus, Mom? Can I? Please!?

I originally bought this book for my six-year-old son (he's now 23) because he loved dinosaurs as a little boy. As I read this book to him, however, as an English teacher I realized that Grambling had written the perfect model for a persuasive essay! I used this book many many times with my high school students to model a multi-paragraph essay with examples, details, transitions, and recognition of the opposing point of view.

Here are some examples:

reasons--i could sleep with him at night and wouldn't be afraid of the dark; he could eat my vegetables at dinner so that i could have dessert; I'd be safe trick-or-treating on Halloween and you and dad wouldn't have to go with me.

transitions: another reason, the most important reason.

opposing show more POV: my plate would be sparkling clean and you would be happy; you'd feel better if I were safe; if I left something off my Christmas list, I could go to the north pole while you stayed home relaxing.

I would have my students map the story, looking for thesis statement, topic sentences, reasons, examples, and details. As far as they told me, they never felt babied but saw the activity as something fun and low-anxiety that would allow them to analyze a persuasive essay on a silly topic so that they could focus on form of the essay first.

Although this book could certainly be used for middle school students, I think it is safer to use a "baby" book with older teens who would have no doubt that they weren't being talked down to. show less

I really enjoyed this book. Although it wasn't a true story or even a fiction book that has a good moral of the story, this book did an excellent job at using your imagination. The story is about a boy who begs his mom to get a stegosaurus and comes up with an amazing number of reasons as to why it would be a good idea. After reading this book with your class, it would be a fun writing activity to have the kids think of anything in the world they want and then come up with as many reasons as possible as to why they should have it. This helps students think creatively and opens up the possibility to use their imagination.
This book is designed for k-2. I believe that is an accurate reading level. The words throughout the story were not show more too complex, but there was the dinosaur's name, stegosaurus, which could be tricky. I would say that it would be a good book for 1st or 2nd grade readers and perhaps a more guided reading for kindergartners. show less

The boy in this story gives a number of reasons for having a stegosaurus around, but most of the reasons are to make him the center of attention (riding it instead of the bus on class field trips and riding on its head, while his classmates ride on its back) or to get out of things (like eating vegetables). This kid does lots of begging, too.

A young boy wants to have a stegosaurus for a pet because he found a giant egg he believes to be a dinosaur egg. He begs his mom to allow him to have the dinosaur, and tells her all the advantages of having a Stegosaurus for a pet...until the pet isn't what he expected at all.
This book would be good to use during a dinosaur or imagination unit.

This story is about a little boy who has dreamed up many grand ideas and activities he could do with a stegosaurus. He begs his mom for one, but in the end he realizes that maybe his expectations were a little off. This could be used in the classroom setting in correlation to a lesson teaching the students about dinosaurs.

Cute premise, but the illustrations are a little dark.

The little boy in this story has lots of reasons to want a stegosaurus, but the main one is that he’s sitting on a giant egg in the forest. After the egg opens, he changes his question. “Can I have a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Mom? Can I? Please?”