Teller of Tales: Duncan the Story Dragon by Amanda Driscoll

DUNCAN THE DRAGON LOVED TO READ.

WHEN DUNCAN READ BOOKS, THE STORIES CAME ALIVE.

AND HIS IMAGINATION CAUGHT FIRE.

UNFORTUNATELY, SO DID HIS BOOKS.

After all, Duncan is a dragon, and for a dragon, fiery breath goes with the territory, right?

But for a bibliophilic little dragon, that's a major glitch in the system.

Duncan never gets to finish a book. Just when it starts to get good, POOF! It's up in smoke.

Duncan tries to cool it. He sits in a circle of every electric fan in the house. The good news is that the pages turn themselves in the breeze, but the bad news is that he stills spouts flame and vaporizes his story. He scrunches himself into the fridge, but it gets defrosted when he scorches the story.

He tries chilling out in a bathtub full of ice cubes. His booty is freezing, but his breath is as flaming as ever.

He looks for someone to read the stories to him. Strangely, his friendly neighborhood raccoon declines the honor. A 'possum up a tree elects to play dead. PLOOP! The big bull in the meadow chases him right up a tree. Yeow!

Will Duncan ever get to that last page, with those two words as sweet as the last slurp of a milkshake?

THE END.

Sometimes it just takes a special mouse to finish a book in Amanda Driscoll's Duncan the Story Dragon (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015), a tale of a book lover who provides plenty of heat for the treats--roasted hot dogs and toasted marshmallows--for his designated reader. Duncan is a darling dragon in little coming-untied red tennies in Driscoll's charming full-page and spot-art illustrations. A nice story of friendship found and books finally finished. As Kirkus Reviews adds, "Like the last sip of a chocolate milkshake, it's very satisfying."