A lovingly rendered tale of wyvern acceptance sure to resonate with any child who’s longed for a pet.
The forbidden becomes the beloved in this medieval tale.
When Prince Griff’s aunt, the Great Sorceress Morgana, comes for a visit, she gives her nephew an early birthday present. Per his aunt’s instructions, Griff places the warm, glowing egg in his fireplace, and in the morning, a tiny silver dragon emerges. The trouble? Griff’s mother, the queen, is desperately allergic to magic creatures of all sorts. Griff manages to hide his dragon (whom he names Sir Pipsqueak, Pip for short) around the castle for some time, but in the end his livid mother discovers the rapidly growing young dragon. Pip is banished—until Morgana points out that he’s a hypoallergenic breed. Smith has loads of fun constructing castle layouts filled with sly details, making some pages look like they’re straight out of an illuminated manuscript and setting up a disconnect between what Griff says and what the pictures show (as when Griff claims that no one notices Pip). The meticulously detailed images place readers smack-dab in the Middle Ages; indeed, Smith’s truly lovely art is the book’s draw. Especially inviting is the final image, in which dappled sunlight filters through leaves upon our picnicking heroes. Griff and his relatives present white, while other castle denizens are a range of skin tones.
A lovingly rendered tale of wyvern acceptance sure to resonate with any child who’s longed for a pet. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9780593650509
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Random
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
A wandering effort, happy but pointless.
The perfect book for kids who love dragons and mild tacos.
Rubin’s story starts with an incantatory edge: “Hey, kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos? They love beef tacos and chicken tacos. They love really big gigantic tacos and tiny little baby tacos as well.” The playing field is set: dragons, tacos. As a pairing, they are fairly silly, and when the kicker comes in—that dragons hate spicy salsa, which ignites their inner fireworks—the silliness is sillier still. Second nature, after all, is for dragons to blow flames out their noses. So when the kid throws a taco party for the dragons, it seems a weak device that the clearly labeled “totally mild” salsa comes with spicy jalapenos in the fine print, prompting the dragons to burn down the house, resulting in a barn-raising at which more tacos are served. Harmless, but if there is a parable hidden in the dragon-taco tale, it is hidden in the unlit deep, and as a measure of lunacy, bridled or unbridled, it doesn’t make the leap into the outer reaches of imagination. Salmieri’s artwork is fitting, with a crabbed, ethereal line work reminiscent of Peter Sís, but the story does not offer it enough range.
A wandering effort, happy but pointless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3680-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of the series will delight in seeing these favorites again, and Girl and Dragon should win some new ones.
A young girl and a dragon take their sweet friendship on an adventure.
After sharing the beginning and deepening of their friendship in Lovabye Dragon (2012) and Evermore Dragon (2015), Joosse puts this twosome on a journey to the high seas. Girl, forever sleeping in her same bed, dreams of sailing away. Dragon, snug in his lair, dreams of sailing with Girl. “Sometimes when friends share a heart / they dream the same thing, apart.” So they pack a wicker basket, a spyglass, and a banner and wave goodbye. The ocean provides plenty of interest with dolphins, whales, and Bad Hats with ratty beards (depicted as Vikings who differ only in the amount of their facial hair). There’s also a cat. The dreamy, highly textured oil pictures by Cecil in his signature palette of gentle grays, greens, and blues make the transition from land to sea seamlessly. With a tender nod to “The Owl and the Pussycat,” the scenery is full of diversions while the clever rhyming verse full of wordplay drifts the story farther from Home. The hazy images allow young minds to see this tiny princess with dark hair as racially ambiguous. As in many famous stories, one must leave home to find home, which is the same for these two loving friends. “With Dragon as boat / and Girl as crew / there was nothing—nothing—they couldn’t do!”
Fans of the series will delight in seeing these favorites again, and Girl and Dragon should win some new ones. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7313-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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