A fine collection of mostly well-known short stories and excerpts from novels about dragons, including works by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Kenneth Grahame, Andrew Lang, and E. Nesbit. Stories include ``Perseus and Andromeda,'' ``The Deliverers of Their Country,'' and ``St. George and the Dragon,'' and excerpts from ``The Hobbit'' and ``The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,'' among others. Of course, they are widely available elsewhere, but here are accompanied by Hague's lavish paintings. His dragons are imbued with highly individual personalities, including a particularly goofy-looking creature in ``The Reluctant Dragon.'' The people seemed to have stepped out of the pages of early 20th-century children's illustrations, but the glowing backgrounds and skies, in deep, rich palettes, mark them as Hague's. For fans of the artist this is another must-have; the cover is stunning. (Anthology. 10+)
