Example stories · Dinosaurs · Ages 5 to 7

Ruko and the Rattling Plates

A read-aloud bedtime story, about 3 minutes.

Ruko was a young Stegosaurus with two rows of big, bumpy plates running down his back, from the top of his neck all the way to the tip of his tail. The plates were Ruko's favorite thing about himself, except for one small problem. Every time Ruko walked, they went clack, clack, clack, clickety-clack, like a drum kit falling down a hill.

"Must you be so loud?" huffed a grumpy old Ankylosaurus one morning at the watering hole. Ruko felt his face go warm under his scales. He tried tiptoeing. Clack, clack. He tried tiny baby steps. Clickety-clack. He even tried holding perfectly still and sliding sideways like a crab, which did not work at all, because Stegosauruses cannot slide sideways like crabs, and Ruko ended up in a heap of ferns.

His best friend, a quick little Compsognathus named Fitz, helped him up, giggling. "You looked like a fern monster," Fitz said. "A very clacky fern monster." Ruko sighed. "I just wish I could be quiet, like you." Fitz, who was small and fast and could scamper through the grass without a sound, shrugged his tiny shoulders. "But then nobody would ever know you were coming. And that would be sad. I always know it's you, Ruko, before I even see you. Clack clack clack, and I know my friend is near."

The next morning, Ruko tried a new plan. He tried walking through the tall grass, thinking it might muffle the sound. It did not. He tried tucking his chin down and creeping along like a very large, very embarrassed turtle. That did not work either, mostly because Stegosauruses are not built for creeping, and Ruko toppled straight into a patch of prickly bushes, plates clacking the whole way down.

Ruko was not so sure. All day he practiced walking softer, which mostly meant walking slower, which mostly meant everyone else got to the best leaves first. By evening, Ruko was tired, hungry, and still just as clacky as before.

That night, the whole dinosaur family gathered on the hill to watch the moon rise. Ruko flopped down, plates and all, with a loud, tired clack. He braced for someone to complain. Instead, something wonderful happened. The moonlight caught the smooth curved edges of his plates and made them glow soft silver. When Ruko breathed, they clicked together gently, chik, chik, chik, like tiny bells.

"Ooooh," said the littlest dinosaurs in the family, scooting closer. "Do it again, Ruko!" So Ruko wiggled, just a little, and his plates chimed in the moonlight, chik, chik, chik. The little ones giggled and curled up right beside him to listen, the way you might curl up next to a music box.

Fitz stretched out on Ruko's other side. "Told you," he whispered. "Everybody loves knowing you're near." Ruko smiled, and for the first time all day, he did not mind the clack, clack, clack one bit.

One by one, the little dinosaurs' eyes grew heavy, lulled by the soft chik, chik, chik of Ruko's moonlit plates. Ruko rested his big head on his front feet and watched the stars blink on, one by one. The hill grew quiet, except for that same gentle rattle, softer now, slower now, like a lullaby only he could play. And under the round silver moon, Ruko the Stegosaurus closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, plates and all.