Trick-or-Treat Feat! Me and My Dragon, Scared of Halloween by David Biedrzycki

ME AND MY DRAGON LOVE ALL THE SAME THINGS.

WE ENJOY ALL THE SAME STUFF--EXCEPT ...

I LOVE HALLOWEEN.

DRAGON? NOT SO MUCH.

The boy hopes that a bit of window shopping will fire Dragon's enthusiasm for dressing up for trick-or-treat. Walking along calmly on his leash, Dragon takes one look at the mummy, werewolf, and zombie in Eddie's Costume Shop window and flies down the storm drain on the street corner.

The boy tries a little bibliotherapy, reading to Dragon from books titled Ghosts Don't Say Boo! and My Friend Frank. He tries out a few costume ideas from 101 Costumes for Pets. The mummy costume is coming along fairly well until Dad, heading off to the bathroom with his newspaper, starts to fume when he notices where all the toilet paper has gone. His RoboDragon mask lacks visibility, Dragon freaks out at the sight of himself as a Zombie, and the cute little tutu his owner creates turns out not to be fireproof--not a feasible costume for a fire-breathing friend.

Almost out of ideas, our boy finally has a brainstorm. Why not take his pet out as the ultimate disguise--a dragon costume! Sometimes the simplest plan is the best, in David Biedrzycki's latest Me and My Dragon story, Me and My Dragon: Scared of Halloween (Charlesbridge, 2013). Set against Biedryzcki's deadpan narrator's style, the highlight of the story are the illustrations of his reluctant Dragon, hamming it up as a schlock-rock Elvis impersonator or scaring himself into the realm of the undead as a zombie. With lots of giggle bait within the illustrations, this story can be a fun cure for kids for whom those roaming Halloween "monsters" going from door to door are not exactly a treat.

DON'T FORGET TO WAKE THE DRAGONS BEFORE SCHOOL.

LOVE,
MOM

“Let sleeping dragons lie” is the watchword of fantasy tales, but in this little knight’s case, that is NOT an option. MOM SAID!

But a dragon is a drag to get out of bed. Even the smoke from his nostrils is barely rising!

DRAGONS WAKE UP.

DRAGONS RISE.

DRAGONS OPEN

DRAGONS’ EYES.

Already up and at ‘em and in his armor and greaves, our little knight still quails a bit, looking eyeball to eyeball with a bleary-eyed dragon who would rather stay in bed. But his mom said to wake the dragon, and our knight knows his duty and is determined to do it. He drags the dragon’s covers off and get him to the sink for a fang-brushing, with the little knight manhandling the dragon-sized toothbrush, and then it’s off to the kitchen to break their fast.

Dragon is still draggin’, but luckily there is a handy labor-saving device for those tasty waffles. Our knight knows his way around siege machines and soon puts his toy catapult to work tossing waffles right into dragon’s mouth. Then it’s time to jam the used jammies into the hamper, find their backpacks, and then–forget the big yellow bus: it’s time to get to Knight School the fun way:

INTO THE SKY,

WHERE DRAGONS
GET TO FLY.

It’s a light-hearted look at getting off to school on dragonback for Jane Yolen and Derek Anderson in their delightful new book, Waking Dragons (Simon & Schuster, 2012). Award-winning fantasy writer Jane Yolen knows from dragons, and to her rhythmic rhymes Derek Anderson plays the trusty illustrative squire in this eye-opening humorous morning tale which really takes off. A cheery morning read-aloud or a fine book for those "early" emergent readers to try out their word attack skills.