Fireworks! Goodnight, Dragons by Judith L. Roth

Everyone needs a cuddle. Maybe dragons more than most.

If there were such things as dragons, there might be reason to fear them.

But in Judith Roth's latest, Goodnight, Dragons (Hyperion, 2012), no one could be intimidated by her pudgy, cuddly green guys, even if they do manage to spout a little fire to warm up a cauldron of hot chocolate to share with a clever little bedtime boy, who's obviously the man with a plan:

They drop from the sky like huge, grouchy bats.

But I wrap them in blankets, soft as modern mist.

I settle them in clover gentle as springtime.

Before you know it, this bedtime boy has them busy warming his cocoa, and with full tummies and warm blankies, you know where this one is going! Pascal Lemaitre's cutesy dragons bank their fires and fold their wings for the night and it's off to dreamland in the proverbial trice.

Taming the bedtime meanies is child's play in this simple little sleepytime saga. Unless, of course,--if you'd never heard of scary dragons before--would you now be wide awake worrying about them? Keep the cocoa mix handy!