Great splatters of draconic mucus aren’t enough to make this story soar.
Enzo the dragon has a most disastrous cold.
“When cinders come showering down from the skies… // And thunder is rumbling, / and smoke burns your eyes… / Then run like a rabbit! Fly like the breeze— // Enzo the dragon is starting to sneeze.” Enzo’s mother tells him to cover his sneeze, but he does not. It is so explosive it launches him into the air, and the wingless dragon flies over fields and pastures toward town. The peasants, a diverse bunch, flee their thatched homes. A dark-skinned royal magician appears on the scene at the behest of the king and the queen and sensibly prescribes fluids and rest. Like many a cold-sufferer before him, Enzo resists: he wants to be made well instantly and doesn’t need a nap. Along come the knights, but even they can’t get close to Enzo. The magician makes a vat of “abraca-brew,” which Enzo drinks before falling asleep. Once he wakes, he’s better. The text closes by counseling readers to “be a good dragon” and cover their sneezes. Cyrus’ double-page spreads are bright and full of sneeze-driven energy, and green-scaled, knobby-crested Enzo is appealing. The rhyming text amusingly reproduces Enzo’s stuffy-nosed entreaties for help among other onomatopoeia, but the story is the weak link. Literal-minded youngsters will wonder what’s going on when both the wizard and Enzo seem to capitulate to each other, the former by brewing the brew and the latter by drinking it and then napping. Is it a trick? A sleeping potion? Or just inconsistent?
Great splatters of draconic mucus aren’t enough to make this story soar. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58536-383-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming continuation of a much-beloved series—and a clever tribute to the power of storytelling.
Scheherazade hasn’t got a thing on this sneaky mouse’s tale-telling talents.
The Gruffalo—the furry, yellow-eyed creature readers may remember from Donaldson and Scheffler’s classic work of the same name—and his daughter receive notice that Gruffalo Granny will soon be coming for a visit. This calls for a special meal, but what to serve? Ultimately, the Gruffalos decide to snatch up that same mouse who dodged their hungry tummies in previous books in the series. When the mouse is informed that they intend to pop him in a stew, he acquiesces but asks if he can tell a story first. As in The Thousand and One Nights, the mouse leaves his tale unfinished each evening; the Gruffalos let him live so they can hear what happens. By night, the mouse gnaws on the bars of his cage. Eventually, there’s a happy ending, not just for the mouse but for the Gruffalos as well (Granny has different tastes than expected). Donaldson’s gently rhyming text will have readers as rapt as the Gruffalo and his child. Featuring saturated colors and characters who are utterly sweet for all their fangs and claws, Scheffler’s artwork hasn’t changed a jot since the mouse and Gruffalo first met. References to the creators’ previous works provide delightful easter eggs for fans.
A charming continuation of a much-beloved series—and a clever tribute to the power of storytelling. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9798217238736
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 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
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