East Dragon, West Dragon

East Dragon, West Dragon by Robyn Eversole
Illustrated by Scott Campbell
Published by Simon and Schuster
2012

     "East Dragon lived in a palace. West Dragon lived in a cave."  They lived on opposite sides of the world and they didn't think too kindly of each other. "West Dragon thought East Dragon was a snob. East Dragon thought West Dragon was a slob."  They weren't quite sure who was stronger or fiercer, so they were a little bit afraid of each other and "kept a world between them, just in case."
     East Dragon lived a peaceful life with his eight brothers and sisters inside the emperor's palace, who loved having them around for good luck and wise advice.  On the other hand West Dragon was not treated kindly by the King and knights who were a total nuisance. They would barge into his cave "waving their silly swords," interrupting his naps.  So when West Dragon gives the king a map to guide his knights to a land far East full of treasure and adventures, the two worlds are set to collide.  What will happen when the two dragons meet?
     East Dragon, West Dragon is a wonderful twist on "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse" story.  Its  filled with humor and wonderfully paced.  The watercolor illustrations by Campbell add to the whimsical feeling, full of details and clever anachronism (Karaoke, piñatas, video-games and pizza!). Wonderful way to bring two worlds into a classroom discussion with tons of fun, but also the possibility of a serious conversation about stereotypes and preconceptions.  Loved it!

When a Dragon Moves In

When a Dragon Moves In by Jodi Moore
Illustrated by Howard McWilliam
2011

     A boy is enjoying a beautiful sunny day at the beach.  With his swimming trunks on, wearing a towel as a cape, and with pail and bucket in hand, he builds a large sandcastle.  "If you build a perfect sandcastle, a dragon will move in." The boy and his imaginary dragon have a wonderful day at the beach: swimming, flying kites and roasting marshmallows.  He tries to convince his family that the dragon is real by showing them a feather from his wing (a seagull feather) and one of his sharp teeth (a broken shell), but they don't believe him.  When he starts getting in trouble for eating all the food (because the dragon was hungry) and for spraying his sister with sand (because she says there is no such thing as a dragon), the boy gets scolded by his parents: "I think we've had enough of this dragon business." The boy destroys his sandcastle and orders his dragon to leave.  There is always tomorrow to build a new perfect castle.
     When a Dragon Moves In is a fun read aloud.  It follows the familiar structure of "if you...then."  I've used this type of book in my classroom and had students create their own "if, then" picture books and they have a blast.  The Illustrations by McWilliam are wonderful (I loved his work on the delightful I Need My Monster).  Kids will enjoy the dragon's antics and the boy's imaginative play.

Room on the Broom

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
Illustrated by Axel Scheffler
2001

     Room on the Broom is on of my favorite read alouds to do around Halloween.  Written in rhyme, it tells the story of a witch flying on her broom with her cat and cauldron.  When the wind blows her hat off her head, she's forced to land.  A dog finds her hat, gives it back, and asks:

"I'm a dog, as keen as can be.

Is there room on the broom 

for a dog like me?

"Yes! cried the witch,

and the dog clambered on.

The witch tapped the broomstick and

whoosh! they were gone.

     This type of scene repeats, with the witch losing her bow and her wand and adding a bird and a frog to the broom's passengers.  With all that extra weight, the broom breaks in two and the witch is attacked by a dragon whose favorite meal includes witch with french fries.  Her animal companions come to the rescue and soon they're on their way riding on a brand new and upgraded broomstick.

     The rhymes by Donaldson flow with such ease that it's a total pleasure to read them aloud.  The story has wonderful vocabulary and repetition to encourage the participation of young readers who will soon memorize ""whoosh! they were gone."  The illustrations by Axel Scheffler are delightful.  Donaldson and Scheffler are one of my favorite author/illustrator pairs.  A perfect Halloween read aloud.

King Jack and the Dragon

King Jack and the Dragon by Peter Bently
Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
2011

     King Jack and the Dragon had me from the moment I saw the cover.  It just looked like one of those books I would've read so many times as a child that pages would've fallen off.  And once I started reading I was not disappointed.
     Jack, Zack, and Caspar are building a fort for King Jack and his men.  They use a cardboard box, sheets and sticks and soon the King and his knight are ready to battle and defend their castle.  They fight off dragons and monsters with their wooden swords and sticks and then they "returned to their stronghold for fabulous feast." They wanted to spend the night inside their fort, but a giant -his dad- came and took Zack home.  Soon, another giant takes baby Caspar home for bedtime.  As Jack is left alone inside the fort, he hears many scary noises but he's able to defeat his fears and stay. That is until a four-legged monster makes its way to the fort.
     King Jack and the Dragon feels like a new classic.  A tale about young boys using their imagination to play together for hours, building forts, and fighting all sorts of creatures.  The illustrations  by Oxenbury have that timeless feeling about them, just beautiful.  This is a book that will be read and reread. No doubt.  One of my favorites this year.

The Pet Dragon

The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters by Christoph Niemann
2008

     Lin is a young chinese girl who received a baby dragon as a gift.  Lin and her pet dragon did everything together: played hide-and-seek, made new friends, played ping-pong, and put on puppet shows.  One day, while playing soccer inside the house, Lin and her dragon broke a vase, so her father placed the dragon in a cage.   The next day the cage was empty and Lin was heartbroken.  She looked everywhere but couldn't find her dragon.  She came to a river and ran into a witch who asked for her help to get across. Lin carried the witch on her shoulders all the way across the river and to thank her, the witch became a giant and helped Lin reach above the clouds.   Up there, Lin found her dragon, all grown up,  playing with other dragons.  The dragon carried Lin back home, and her father, happy to have his daughter back, promised them they could always play together.
     There is something very cool about The Pet Dragon, because Christoph Niemann uses the story as a vehicle to introduce Chinese characters.  Each page has a couple of them incorporated into the illustrations and with their meanings underneath them.  The first page of the book offers a letter from the author with a brief explanation about the use of Chinese characters.  A good book to introduce children to chinese culture and to include in the multicultural classroom.

Raising Dragons

Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolen
Illustrated by Elise Primavera
1998

     Her Pa didn't know anything about raising dragons and neither did her Ma.  "Now me, I knew everything about dragons, and I knew that they were real."  One Sunday, during her before-supper walk, Cupcake finds a large egg inside a cave.  Although her Pa asks her to stay away, and she always minded her parents, she just couldn't resist and went to check the cave day after day, until the egg hatched with a Crack that "was louder than one hundred firecrackers on the Fourth of July", and a dragon poked through the shell. "It was love at first sight." Cupcake named the dragon Hank and soon they became inseparable.  Hank helped around the farm, plowing the fields, tending the crops and even fanning away the heat that was threatening the tomato crops.  When the corn crop seem to get too large for the family to manage, Hank turned it into popcorn using his fire breath and the family was able to sell it for a profit.  Hank earned the love and appreciation of Ma and Pa.  Soon, though, Cupcake knew it was time for Hank to go.  He had grown to be a full size dragon and the farm wasn't right for him anymore.  Cupcake found an Atlas that charted a dragon island and flew there on Hank's shoulders.  She left him there, but not before Hank gave her more dragon eggs to bring back home to raise, just like she had raised him.  "The same way Pa knew that farming was in his blood, I knew that raising dragons was in mine."
     Raising Dragons has a fabulous final sentence: "There are some things you just know."  Although her parents doubt her at first and think that she's imagining things, Cupcake knew deep inside her heart that she was meant to meet a dragon and eventually become in charge of raising dragons.  This is a beautiful tale of friendship and perseverance.  The illustrations are gorgeous, the language has a nice tone and rhythm and the story is very sweet.

Argus

Argus by Michelle Knudsen
Illustrated by Andrea Wesson
2011

     Sally's class is working on their new science project.  When the teacher, Mrs. Henshaw, hands them each an egg, Sally complains that hers looks different.  "Don't be difficult.  Some eggs just look different," says Mrs. Henshaw to Sally.  Different is an understatement.  While all the other eggs hatch and cute little chicks start running around the classroom, Sally's egg hatches to reveal a green dragon.  She names him Argus.  Not quite sure yet if she likes her "chick", Sally goes along with all the different parts of her science project: measuring weight and size and graphing the results, taking Argus out to eat in the school's yard, creating a growth chart...but Argus keeps causing all sorts of trouble -like trying to eat all the other chicks and the children - and Sally now must sit by herself during recess keeping Argus away from the other children and chicks.  She's not enjoying standing out and being different all the time.  One day, after recess, Sally turns around to look for Argus to bring him back inside and he's gone.  Sally expected to feel relieved and "waited to feel happy," but instead she felt sad and worried.  Sally, Mrs. Henshaw and her classmates search around the neighborhood until they find Argus. Back in the classroom, Sally looks at the new pie graph she created about Argus; it looks totally different from the other kids' graphs and that's just fine with Sally.
     Argus is a very special book.  I'm glad to see that Argus didn't become something he was not to gain Sally's acceptance, and instead it was Sally who learned the value of being different.  As much as I like Argus as a character, I've got to say that my favorite was Mrs. Henshaw.  I loved how she seemed to ignore the obvious fact that Argus was not a chick, and would tell Sally to relax and just deal.  I especially loved the scene when, after finding Argus at a neighbor's yard -where he has destroyed the lawn- as the homeowner begins to complain about the damage done to her property, Mrs. Henshaw simply hands her an orange emergency cone and says, "Don't be difficult." And walks away.  Brilliant! Some adults should be treated just like children...