Diego the Dodo

For parents and teachers

Diego’s story is a gentle way to talk with kids about trying hard, getting back up, and what makes each of us special.

Start with a read-aloud

Play the first pages for your group, then pause where Diego starts to worry. Ask the kids what they think he’ll do. It makes a great hook before reading the whole book together.

Get a copy for your class

A 2-minute read-aloud of the first pages. The rest of the race is in the book!

Questions to talk about

  • Diego tries to run like Gina and crawl like Kai. What happens? How do you think he feels?
  • When things go wrong, Diego says “I must not give up!” When have you kept trying at something hard?
  • Every animal in the race has a different talent. What is something you’re good at?
  • Which animal would you like to be in the race, and why?
  • Can you make the sounds in the story, like “Swish!” and “Kaboom!”? Which words sound like what they describe?

Learning connections

  • Social-emotional: perseverance, self-confidence, celebrating differences.
  • Self-confidence: read the affirmations page together, then have kids pick their favourite and say it out loud.
  • Language: action verbs (gallop, crawl, fly, leap, roll) and onomatopoeia.
  • Geography and science: use the world maps at the back of the book to find each animal’s home, then talk about the endangered-animals page: what is a habitat, and what does extinct mean?
  • Early literacy and math: the matching game and search-and-find in the book, plus our counting and tracing sheets.

Free worksheets to go with the book

Colouring pages for all six animals, an island maze, a word search, shape tracing and counting.

Browse the activities
  • Tracing shapes worksheet
  • Count the numbers worksheet
  • Leo the lemur colouring page

Schools, libraries and bookstores

Looking for several copies for a classroom, library or shop? Tell us what you need and we’ll help you order.

Ask about orders

A reading with the creators

Tammy and Parveen have read Diego’s story online to classrooms, libraries and family groups, in English and in French. If you’d like a reading for your group, ask us.

Ask about a reading