Lulu is a girl with a mind of her own.
An only child with indulgent parents, she proclaims that she wants a pet brontosaurus for her birthday—and she expects to get one.
"At first Lulu's mom and her dad just thought she was making a little joke. And then they saw—oh, horrors!—that she was serious."
When two weeks of temper tantrums and screeching fail to produce a brontosaurus, Lulu packs a bag and sets out, determined to find a dinosaur on her own.
In Lulu and the Brontosaurus, a new chapter book for early readers, veteran writer Judith Viorst introduces a character as prickly and unique as Alexander (of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day fame). Lane Smith's highly stylized illustrations depict Lulu as a beady-eyed brat with an oversized head, annoying but extremely plucky as she trudges through a fanciful forest in search of the elusive brontosaurus.
When she finally encounters a dinosaur, it appears that Lulu has met her match. Just who will be the pet for whom? And could it be that headstrong Lulu will actually learn to say “please”? This test of wills between a tiny girl and a huge beast proceeds to a surprising conclusion, and the story takes a final interesting turn with not one but two alternate endings.
Throughout the book, Viorst interjects bold and often hilarious first-person comments about her storytelling choices as a writer ("if you don’t want to read this book, you can close it up right now—you won’t hurt my feelings," she says at the beginning). It's one of many creative touches that make Lulu and the Brontosaurus a fresh and original choice for young readers.
