WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN AGAIN

In this companion to When a Dragon Moves In (2011), it turns out that castles of any sort, not just sand, attract dragons, so the soon-to-be-born baby’s crib, with its crenellations and turrets at the corners, has an occupant even before mom gives birth.

The dragon and the boy start off doing their best to entertain the new baby, but their efforts are not always appreciated. The baby’s bottles are not toys, and no matter how it makes the baby giggle, mom and dad just don’t appreciate their son playing airplane in the house—and they’re not buying the boy’s explanation that the overturned plant is the dragon’s work, not his. The last straw is his father’s declaration that “we’ve had enough of this dragon business.” Well, the boy’s “had enough of this baby business!” Will the baby get sent back as the boy demands of his parents, or will the boy decide that maybe the baby’s not so bad after all? As in the previous title, the big question here is whether or not the dragon is imaginary. Regardless, the dragon is definitely the boy’s release—his way of engaging in naughty behavior and then blaming it on the dragon—when it’s tough to accept the new changes around the house that come with a baby. McWilliam’s pencil and digitally painted illustrations are wonderfully raucous and tongue-in-cheek, and his facial expressions are spot-on.

It doesn’t matter whether or not they can be seen; there’s a little bit of dragon inside each of us. Here’s to dragon-taming.