A vanilla yarn best suited for bedtime.
Two brothers, their dog, and their dragon conclude their adventures in this final installment of a trilogy.
Orange-haired, pale-skinned brothers Paddy and Flynn live on a remote island that boasts both alluringly titled locales and fearsome fire-breathing dragons. Falling in step with their previous escapades (The Dragon Hunters and The Dragon Tamers, both 2017), the boys, their dog, Coco, and their dragon, Elton John, go for a wild ride up to Mount Astonishing, where the dragons annually congregate. However, the surprise presence of two human boys doesn’t go over well, and Elton John must find a way to save the brothers and get them home before bedtime. As in the two earlier books, Russell maintains a narrative style of lilting quatrains in iambic pentameter, creating a lyrical read-aloud with a rhythmic flow. However, his worldbuilding—with its fantastic island containing such wondrous places as the Ridge of Rising Flame and Magic Terraces—never really breathes any life into the enticingly titled places and only briefly touches upon them in the boys’ expeditions. The overall effect is resigned and docile; those seeking a dramatic dragon offering will be disappointed by the gentle cadence and muted adventures. Choi’s illustrations range from small black-and-white sketches to large, soft-focus, full-color renderings that help reinforce this tale’s quiet nature. Readers drawn by the augmented-reality feature will be disappointed to find it’s just the same map as in the previous two books.
A vanilla yarn best suited for bedtime. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4867-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A beguiling read-aloud for more than princess-and-dragon lovers.
The comforting friendship between a young girl and an enormous dragon deepens.
In Lovabye Dragon (2012), Joosse shared a hopeful tale of sweet friendship between an unlikely pair. Moving on from the first book, the friendship continues to grow here with an innocent game of hide-and-seek. Doesn’t Girl see the dragon hiding behind a very small rock? Both children and adults reading this story will chuckle, though for slightly different reasons. The two friends delight in their togetherness. When Girl takes her turn to hide, she runs to a faraway hidey-hole and becomes lost in the night, separated from Dragon. “But she cried silver tears / worry worry tears / and her heart thumped a sound / a trem-below sound / that only Dragon friends, / very very special friends, can hear.” So summoned, the distressed Dragon flies to her rescue: “I am here,” he rumbles; Girl whispers, “You’re a dear.” Although the theme of rescue seems similar to the first title, the thoughtfully constructed, rhythmic text sprinkled with clever neologisms moves the action forward, while the comforting palette of hazy grays, blues, and browns keeps the distress minimal. The teary and frightened Girl shines in her starlike yellow gown, muted yet hope-filled on the dreamy pages.
A beguiling read-aloud for more than princess-and-dragon lovers. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6882-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
A humorous rhyming romp in which the usual fairy-tale villains are friends. (Picture book. 3-6)
Alice, the princess in the palace, loves her blankie, but it’s missing, so the search is on.
Her brother, Jack, used it as a curtain until a giant stole it to use as a hankie, until a witch flew off with it and made a cloak from it, until it was taken by…a cranky-looking dragon who happens to be snoring on it when Alice finds them. Alice is cranky herself but halts a brief blankie tug of war for a better solution: finding the dragon his own bedtime snuggly. It’s not easy. The dragon grows increasingly weepy, but he won’t snuggle with the witch’s “far too scratchy” cat, the giant’s feather pillow (it makes him sneeze), or Jack’s stinky socks. What can Alice do? A thorough search of the palace finally yields the dragon’s perfect snuggly and earns Alice a lifelong friend and protector. Muted mixed-media cartoon illustrations create rich backstories for each character combined with a sophisticated, smoothly reading rhyme scheme to produce a fast-moving friendship story that problem-solving young children will appreciate. Princess Alice, Prince Jack, and the giant present as dark-haired white characters.
A humorous rhyming romp in which the usual fairy-tale villains are friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0819-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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