SuitabookThe Tortosaurus
Katie Cottle
- Reading
- Read it together before or during a school transition, pausing to ask what Dot and Monty might want at each stage. Afterwards, invite the child to name one way of being themselves.
- Themes
- Being oneself under social pressure: Dot invents a ‘tortosaurus’ to avoid having her ordinary tortoise dismissed, while Monty is dressed up and gains attention he does not want. The narrative explicitly moves towards Dot and Monty no longer being presented as something else; being true to oneself is stated as its moral.
- Starting school and making friends: Dot is new at school and wants friends but initially holds back; she later bonds with Jude after a difficult social episode. The story treats friendship as possible through honesty and shared understanding rather than through maintaining a performance.
- Worth knowing
- Dot makes a stressful lie and later becomes angry before apologising. The social pressure is presented lightly within a friendship story, but children may want help distinguishing self-expression from changing someone else to gain attention.