ADITI AND THE ONE-EYED MONKEY

Somewhere in India, a dragon lays the land waste once a year. Negotiating for their deliverance, the king and queen are forced to offer their granddaughter Aditi to the dragon. Aditi, perfectly willing to confront him, is accompanied by an unlikely trio: a one-eyed monkey, an ant, and an elephant. These companions prove resourceful at battling lions, eluding marauding monkeys, and finally propitiating the dragon; since he was actually just bored and lonely, this is an easily solved problem. The gentle approach of this pleasant little fantasy is somewhat reminiscent of Gannett's My Father's Dragon. Quite a lot happens in its 16 brief chapters, suiting it for reading aloud to a class. Unfortunately, the rather stiff, clumsy, black-and-white illustrations add little.