The Backpack Dinosaur Books

It's the first day of fourth-grade for twins Andy and Anna. Andy is a shy boy obsessed with dinosaurs and Anna is an adventurous girl willing to take risks. One day when they step off the school bus, Anna suggests taking a shortcut through a dark alley to get home. As they navigate through the abandoned alley, they find a mysterious large egg tucked under a bush. They take it home and try to hatch it, careful not to tell their parents who are strict about pets. After building a makeshift nest in the attic, the egg hatches into a friendly baby velociraptor, whom they later name Tennyson, due to his infatuation with destroying tennis balls. Now they must convince their parents to keep the little dinosaur, while overcoming bad grades and the school bully.

When the Saunders go camping in the Pennsylvanian wilderness, Mr. Saunders tells the kids a scary story about a legendary creature named Fatfoot, who lives in the forest nearby. At first, the children don't believe the strange tale, until things begin to go bump in the night. It's up to Andy, Anna, and everyone's favorite raptor, Tennyson, to investigate the legend themselves.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Anna encourages Andy to write his class crush a romantic note. During class one day, Andy finally agrees and begins penning a Valentine letter. When Mason Mitchell sees the note and almost reads it aloud in front of the class, a daring rescue mission involving Andy, Anna, and everyone's favorite velociraptor begins to recapture the note before the class bully does. Now it's a race against time as the Valentine's Day party rapidly approaches!