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Example book

Emma and the Secret Dinosaur Garden

Emma has counted the roses eleven times and there have always been eleven. So when a small green gate appears behind them, she is the only one who notices — and the only one brave enough to knock.

  • Aged 4
  • Dinosaurs
  • Storybook Watercolour
Make one like this
Emma and the Secret Dinosaur Garden
Starring Emma

Pages from the book

Emma in yellow wellingtons at the end of a walled garden, a small green gate half-hidden behind rose bushes
Emma knew this garden by heart. Eleven roses. One wobbly step. Squelch, squelch went her yellow wellies. But today, behind the roses, there was a small green gate. And yesterday — Emma was quite sure — there had not been.
Emma knocking on the little green gate, one enormous friendly eye of Bracken the dinosaur appearing over the top of it
Knock, knock, knock. “Hello?” called Emma. “Is somebody in there?” Something rustled. Something rumbled. And an enormous eye peeped over the top of the gate.
Bracken the dinosaur lowering his head apologetically over flattened rose bushes while Emma laughs
“Oops,” said the dinosaur. “I’m Bracken. I was only smelling them.” Eleven roses lay flat as pancakes. Emma looked at the roses. She looked at Bracken’s guilty face. And she laughed until her tummy hurt.
Emma and Bracken planting roses together, water everywhere, Bramble the cat watching from a wall
So they planted eleven new ones before tea. Emma dug — scoop, scoop, scoop. Bracken watered. All at once. Rather a lot. Bramble the cat went to sit somewhere drier.

What made this book Emma’s

Everything on this list came from what a parent told us, and every one of them changed the story rather than decorating it.

  • Emma’s name, age and curly red hair
  • Her grandmother Nana Rose, who has the garden
  • Bramble, the family’s enormous grey cat
  • Her yellow wellingtons, which she will not take off
  • Dinosaurs, obviously

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