Days at school are tough for Dino Deegan. Being included at recess is his dream, but his claws are so big that they get in the way, and other children and dinosaurs bully him for it.

Your claws are too sharp to join in our games,

they said as they pointed and called Deegan names.

You’re creepy and odd, they yelled, and they jeered,

and poor Deegan thought, This is just what I feared.

But wait!

There’s a new kid in class. She introduces herself to Deegan as Cass. Friendship sparks fly as they become immediate friends, but the classroom bullies try to deter Cass from being Dino Deegan’s friend.

Will Cass follow the bullies and stop being Dino Deegan’s friend? Will she stand up for her new friend and help the bullies see the error in their ways?

With diverse characters and eye catching illustrations, Dino Deegan and the Unpleasant Class will help children understand that true friendship is key and taking down bullies one act of kindness is possible.

What Reader are Saying:

My 7 year old and I absolutely love this book. The story is very heartwarming and encourages kids to be kind and include other kids, come up with creative solutions and keep looking for true friends that will be there for them no matter what. A great story about friendship. The tips at the end of the book are cute and helpful. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and inspired my 7 year old to find Zoe’s website and look through more of her work. We love how Dino starts out grey and gets his colors back as his friendships blossom. We also love that the characters are diverse and my daughter really liked the cool stone wheelchair and the various hairstyles. She was so inspired, she plans to be Dino Deegan for our book week (Australia) and Halloween! We found a dinosaur costume and she’s going to wear a tie-dye shirt over it. She also noticed the dogs in the book and we loved that they are the Author’s dog and the illustrator’s dog who recently passed away. Beautiful book - Casey Lewis

This is probably one of the best books we read in the last couple of months. And I’m not just saying that because of the main character being a dinosaur, the kids being very diverse, the rhymes flowing beautifully, or the illustrations being magnificent. What we loved most in fact was how the main character and the other kids in the book underwent a significant personal development that was visualised in the book through art (Spoiler: The dino starts out as being grey = mainly invisible to others, and turned colourful towards the end = having found a true friend and recognition for who he is). Overall, a great read that I’ll recommend to my sons’ preschool and school, respectively. - Dr. Jana Broecker- Author and Scientist