Unwrapping...
Richard Torrey is both author and illustrator of this lively book. Ally, the spunky heroine, has quite the imagination, and her favourite thing to be is a dinosaur. She is starting school today where she hopes she will meet up with like-minded kids who are obsessed with dinosaurs too. She is uber excited to get going and with a gigantic ROARRRR... she is off!
To her dismay she discovers that she is the only one who chomps her food with dinosaur vigor and her name plate that Mrs. W. asks her to create...is...well, you guessed it...in the shape of a dinosaur. Other kids (the prissy princesses to be exact) do not share her enthusiasm regarding dinosaurs and even shun her at lunchtime. They will not sit with her and include her in their pompous princess gang. Poor Ally, what is a girl to do?
School is not what Ally expected at all! Feeling downhearted she finds herself alone and isolated at the lunch table. And then the unthinkable happens causing a smile to come across Ally's face and her enthusiasm to accelerate. Kids come flocking to her expressing their opinions of what they like to be and are into. As Ally opens up her mind to the other kid's creative imaginations, (Cindy likes dragons, Jason loves lions, and Walter adores his lunchbox), a bond is made, forming a group that chomp their sandwiches with fierce teeth and ROARRRR loudly emulating their new friend Ally. Together these kids become BFF's.
You will love the surprise ending. The humorous and witty illustrations dove-tail perfectly with the text. This charming picture book teaches your child acceptance and tolerance, both very good things for kids to know don't you agree?
Unwrapping the illustrations for you to peek at...
How adorable are these. I love the whole concept and of the black and white and the imagination being in colour. I highly recommend this book. It is suitable for ages 3-7.
Unwrapping the author...
Richard Torrey is the author/illustrator of fourteen books and the illustrator of dozens more. For the better part of two decades, he has also been the creator of a top-selling line of greeting cards for Recycled Paper Greetings.
Born in Los Angeles, Richard began doodling as soon as he could hold a crayon. In third grade, he showed a picture of a horse he had drawn to the legendary comic strip creator, Charles Schulz. Schulz drew Snoopy on the back of the picture, inspiring Richard to follow a similar career path.
After graduating from Allegheny College, Torrey created the first of two successful syndicated comic strips; Hartland (King Features), followed with a sports strip, PETE and CLETE (Creators Syndicate), both of which appeared in hundreds of newspapers around the world.
During that time, Richard was also an editorial cartoonist for The National (sports daily), as well as a regular contributor to Inside Sports Magazine, Inside Hockey, Fanzine Media (a European hockey magazine published in Sweden, Finland, and Norway), Kid City Magazine (a Sesame St. Publication), Highlights Magazine, The Hockey News, and Football Digest.
Torrey also spent time working with Disney on the development of an animated children's series for their preschool division, Playhouse Disney.
Richard is on the faculty of The Art League of Long Island, where for the past 25 years he has taught classes in cartooning and anime/manga.
The son of Hockey Hall-of-Famer, Bill Torrey, Richard lives in Long Island, New York, with his wife and two children.
Read on and read always!
It's a wrap.
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