Third graders illustrate Ragland’s Floppy the Dinosaur Chicken at Gilpin County Elementary
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Students in Ms. Kellie Bayne’s third grade class hold up copies of Floppy the Dinosaur Chicken with author Bill Ragland during a classroom celebration at Gilpin County Elementary on April 27.
The book’s cover features Floppy perched atop a spotted egg, introducing the story created in collaboration with local students.
A student illustration shows Henny and Rooster discovering the speckled egg that begins Floppy’s story.
GILPIN COUNTY — The multi-purpose room at Gilpin County Elementary filled with quiet attention and bursts of laughter as author Bill Ragland read aloud from his newly published children’s book, Floppy the Dinosaur Chicken, on April 27.
Ragland, who lives in Westminster, Colorado, wrote the story with a unique goal in mind. He wanted to see it through the eyes of children.
Instead of hiring an illustrator, he partnered with Ms. Kellie Bayne's third-grade class at the school, where his granddaughter is a student, to create the artwork.
“I wanted to have a kid’s view,” Ragland said. “The ideas flowed; it came together naturally.”
Throughout January, Ragland worked with the students as they sketched scenes inspired by the story. The result was a colorful and imaginative book where each page reflected how different children pictured the same moment.
Simple pencil drawings, later filled with color, showed everything from a fox encounter to a soaring pterodactyl rescue.
The story followed Floppy, a creature raised as a chicken who eventually discovered he was actually a dinosaur.
Along the way, he faced teasing from other animals, found friendship, and learned where he truly belonged.
The students listened closely as Ragland read, clearly engaged by both the adventure and the familiar drawings.
“They were very interested in the story and the drawings,” Ragland said after the reading.
The book had been years in the making. Ragland first started writing it in 2020, then set it aside before returning to finish it last fall. It is now available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and IngramSpark.
For Ragland, the highlight was not publishing; it was the collaboration.
“My favorite part was working with the kids,” he said.
Families gathered at the school for a celebration honoring the young illustrators. Each student received a personalized copy of the book, and Ragland presented a copy to the school library.
Ragland also builds log furniture and plans to have a booth at this summer's Gilpin County Fair, with some copies of the book for sale. He shared that he is already thinking about a second story, which will likely be self-published.
