The Worrysaurus by Rachel Bright was an unexpected surprise from a Scholastic Book Club teacher order. I got a copy at the end of last year using the last of my bonus points and tossed it in my feelings bin when I packed up my classroom in June. When I pulled it out to read as part of my feelings unit a couple weeks ago, I was so delighted by the sweet story about a dinosaur whose plans for a picnic on a beautiful day are quickly derailed by his anxious thoughts: Does he have enough food? What if he gets lost? What if he trips and get hurts? Will it start to rain? Eventually, he manages to chase his worries away and simply enjoy living in the moment, despite the what ifs.
The simple, rhyming text and vibrant illustrations were perfect for my first graders, who eagerly waved their hands in the air when I asked what the Worrysaurus learned at the end of the story. Working with their reading partners, they came up with so many great big ideas about the text for our read aloud bulletin board, including:
“Don’t worry about what could happen.”
“Be brave!”
“It’s okay if things don’t go as planned.”
“Enjoy the moment.”
