Egg-cellent Book Bonus! There's a Dragon in Your Book by Tom Fletcher

LOOK! THERE'S AN EGG IN YOUR BOOK!

That's a NOVEL surprise!...

But as we know, an egg doesn't stay an egg

It's cracking and ... hatching out a baby dragon--an adorable baby dragon!

TICKLE HER LITTLE NOSE!

A-CHOOO!

OOPS! There's one thing we didn't know. When baby dragons sneeze, they make little sparks fly all over. We have to blow out the little fires and hurry and turn the page!

But when the page is turned, there are little fires there on both pages. And when we turn that page to tamp down the fire, there's smoke escaping under that page.

LET'S USE IMAGINATION. IMAGINE A BIG WATER BALLOON, READY TO POP!

You DID it!

SPLASH!

The little dragon does a great job! The fire is out! Now, how about imagining up a giant ice cream cone for her reward? YUM! But that huge double decker leaves the little dragon sleepy and too full to fly! Oh, NO! How will she get back home?

Where there's a will, there's a way, in Tom Fletcher's latest in the Who's In Your Book? series, There's a Dragon in Your Book (Random House, 2018), another interactive story book with, thanks to artist Greg Abbott, the cutest baby hatchling dragon ever! Set in spot-art style in large figures and colorful text against bright white pages, this book is a cheery imagination workout for toddlers and an easy and fun book for emergent readers as well. For more fanciful brain workouts, see other books in this interactive book series, There's an Alien in Your Book (Who's In Your Book?), and There's a Monster in Your Book (Who's In Your Book?) (see my review here.)

Seriously Seeking Combustion! Fire Truck Vs. Dragon by Chris Barton

Fire and water don't mix, so when a fire-breathing dragon and a fire truck meet, there's some serious conflagration confrontation to be expected. At least, that's what the kids expect at the summer camp's campfire event.

"I KNOW, RIGHT?" SAID DRAGON. "WHAT ARE DRAGONS REALLY GOOD AT? IT'S OBVIOUS."

"AND," ADDED FIRE TRUCK, "WHAT ARE FIRE TRUCKS REALLY, REALLY REALLY GOOD AT?"

But when the camper kiddos assemble for the campfire, their pointy branches carefully whittled down to hold melted morsels of marshmallow goodness, what do they see? There's barely a flame to toast those tasty treats.

The mighty Dragon and the high-powered fire engine are all palsy-walsy, and echew a fire and water fight. They chit-chat about how popular they are at barbeques! The same chummy conversations continue when the kids congregate for a cookout, where Dragon and Fire Truck enthuse about their potato salad and Firehouse baked beans. At the birthday pinata party, where Dragon eschews a dramatic lighting the birthday cake candles, and settles for just whacking the pinata with his tail. Fire Truck cheerily catches the falling candies for the children's convenience. Where's the fun in THAT?

"IT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU THAT A FIRE TRUCK AND A DRAGON CAN IN FACT BE GOOD FRIENDS," OBSERVED DRAGON.

But the kids are definitely disappointed. Fire Truck and Dragon point out that Fire Truck is great fun at water parks, and Dragon provides super pre-heated blankets in winter, but the kids are still downcast. They were clearly hoping for some fiery combustion and fire extinction demos. More smoke and splash, not recipes and forever friends stuff.

So what are Fire Truck and Dragon to do? They give in to their fans and fake a fiery flash and and full-force water fight, in Chris Barton's Fire Truck vs. Dragon (Little, Brown and Company, 2020), illustrated enthusiastically by artist Shanda McCloskey. Share this one with author Chris Barton's runaway best seller, Shark vs. Train (Read my review here)

Jokes Kirkus Reviews, "The ultimate showdown gets waylaid by an inconvenient friendship.

Undercover Knight: Attack of the Underwear Dragon by Scott Rothman

Cole had always wanted to be an assistant to Sir Percival. So he wrote a letter of application.

DEAR SIR PERCIVAL, I WOULD MAKE A GREAT ASSISTANT KNIGHT BECAUSE I AM SMART, I WORK HARD AND I PROMISE TO LEARN WHATEVER I DON'T KNOW.

PLEASE GIVE ME A SHOT.

Cole's letter moves Sir Percival to tears--which was really not all that hard, since Sir Percival cried when he peeled onions, when his feelings were hurt by callous wizards, and especially when he had to fight the Underwear Dragon.

But he hires Cole, who undergoes strenuous training. He has to learn how to to ride a charger (and fall off one), how to sharpen Sir Percival's swords, spears, and pencils, and how to sooth Sir Percy when he has nightmares about facing the Underwear Dragon. He has to master knightly courage when he is knocked off a horse...,

... KNOCKED OUT BY A PRINCESS, KNOCKED DOWN BY A KNIGHT, AND KNOCKED OUT BY A CATAPULT.

At last Cole is knighted by his hero, Sir Percival, and only just in time.

The Underwear Dragon, wearing impeccable whitey tighties, appears and destroys the whole kingdom and defeats all the knights--even the (sometimes) gallant Sir Percival.

Cole is the last man standing! The Underwear Dragon is prepared to eat him up!

BUT COLE REMEMBERED EVERYTHING HE HAD LEARNED!

Cole loaded his catapult and knocked the pants off the Underwear Dragon, who became the Embarrassed Bare-Naked Dragon and flew away forever.

It's happy ever after in the court of King Arthur, in Scott Rothman's Attack of the Underwear Dragon (Random House, 2020), a new tale in the comic mode of the bungling knight and his courageous young squire, illustrated humorously by Pete Oswald, the noted illustrator of Jory Johns' humorous hits, The Good Egg, The Couch Potato, The Bad Seed, and other comic treats. (see reviews here.)

A Bad Day! Dragon Gets By by Dav Pilkey

ONE WARM SUNNY DAY DRAGON WOKE UP VERY GROGGY.

HE DID EVERYTHING WRONG.

FIRST, HE READ HIS EGG AND FRIED THE MORNING NEWSPAPER. HE BUTTERED HIS TEA AND SIPPED A CUP OF TOAST.

Dragon opened the closet door instead of the front door and decided it wasn't morning yet. So he went back to bed.

But when he wakes again, he decides to get up and start his chores. The floor looks dirty, but after sweeping for hours, it only seems worse. When MailMouse rings the doorbell, she points out that Dragon's house has a dirt floor, so of course, it's "dirty." So Dragon shovels the loose dirt outside. Soon he has a huge pile of dirt in the yard.

"WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL THIS DIRT?" DRAGON ASKS.

Dragon decides there's nothing to do with dirt but bury it. He digs a large hole and shovels the dirt from his floor into it. At last that's done. But then he turns around and sees a big pile of dirt.

"WHERE DID ALL THIS COME FROM?" DRAGON ASKS.

By now, Dragon is famished. But his cupboard is bare, so he drives up the big hill to the grocery store. Dragon is a wise shopper.

HE ONLY BOUGHT FOOD FROM THE FIVE BASIC FOOD GROUPS.

Dragon loads his cart with cheese crunchies from the dairy group, catsup from the veggie group, doughnuts from the grains group, and pork rinds from the meat group. And from the chocolate group he picks out fudge popsicles. Barely balancing all his food groups, Dragon staggers with his bags to the car. But it seems that when all the groceries are loaded, there's no room left for him in the car. What to do? The only choice is to eat all the food first.

It's one of those terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad days, in Dav Pilkey's Dragon Gets By: An Acorn Book (Dragon 3) (Scholastic Books, 2020), a delightfully silly noodle tale in which Dragon ends the day watering his bed and sleeping in the flower bed. Tomorrow can only be better!

Kids love author-illustrator Dav Pilkey's flair for the absurd in this beginning reader series that will be irresistible giggle bait for preschool and primary kids who love their books on the silly side. Pilkey, winner of a Caldecott Honor Medal for his novel, The Paperboy is also the creator of his comic graphic novels, Dog Man: The Epic Collection: From the Creator of Captain Underpants (Dog Man 1-3 Boxed Set), his best-selling series, Captain Underpants: 10 Book Set, and his classic pictures books such as The Dumb Bunnies, Dogzilla, Kat Kong, and The Hallo-Wiener., guaranteed to draw gales of giggles and make the day for young readers.

I Am NOT Negative! The Knight Who Said "NO!" by Lucy Rowland

Once inside a castle lived
a little knight named Ned,
who always picked his toys up
and always made his bed.

Ned is the only kid in the town, and as kids go, he's pretty much perfect. No matter how unpleasant the task, Ned is Never Negative.

When asked to pick the cabbages,
Ned wouldn't whine or stress.

He always answered right away
and always answered,"YES!"

Life in the castle is never negative--except for the DRAGON who nightly swoops down low over town and terrifies the townspeople and the royal parents, too. But Ned can't help thinking that maybe the dragon needs someone to play with, too. What to do?

And one day Ned wakes up in a contrary mood. When The Queen asks him to bring in the milk, he opens his mouth and says "NO!" His royal parents are nonplussed. The townspeople are not pleased.

And when the dragon makes her daily pass over the castle, Ned walks out into the square and says--

"NO!"

The dragon has to confess that she only wants to stay and play with Ned. Ned is impressed with the Dragon's daring, and there's only one thing to say.

"YES!"

Ned the Super-Nice Knight discovers he has a mind of his own and a new playmate who even gives him the occasional night ride over the castle, in Lucy Rowland's The Knight Who Said "No!" (Candlewick/Nosy Crow Press, 2019). Sometimes even little knights have to make a statement, and artist Kate Hindley's agreeable but lonely little hero's change in mood will make perfect sense to kids. Hindley's charming geometric medieval scene, done mostly in blues and reds, and her goofy red dragon make this story almost irresistible. Says Kirkus Reviews, "This emotionally astute tale will strike chords of recognition."

Fly High! Rosie and Rasmus by Serena Geddes

Rosie lives in a little village with cobblestone streets, a fountain, and an ice cream stand.

Every day Rosie watches as the others play.

She wishes someone would see her.

But one day, as a lonely Rosie is sitting under a tree gazing out to sea, someone in the tree reaches down and hands her a rose.

It is Rasmus, a lonely but not little dragon who wishes he had wings so he could fly.

Rose understands wishing, so she tries to help Rasmus fly. She tries tying him to a big kite. She tries bunches of balloons to float over the sea. She reads him books about soaring dragons. She brings him goggles to inspire his confidence. Rasmus can't seem to get off the ground, but he and Rosie become fast friends.

And then, one day, Rasmus' little wings unfurl and... Rasmus can fly! He can fly to the land of the dragons! But, that means...

...Rosie and Rasmus must say goodbye.

Rosie is alone again. Will she remember how Rasmus befriended her? There are plenty of flowers blooming all around, in Serene Geddes' Rosie and Rasmus (Aladdin Books, 2019), and Rosie finds a way to make another friend. Who doesn't love a gift of a flower and an invitation to share an ice cream cone? In author Geddes' gentle and sweet story of finding friends, the author shows the value of making that first move toward friendship, and artist Geddes' charming seaside illustrations in soft pastel palette show the good things that can come of a small act of kindness.

The Sky Is All One Piece: Spark by Sarah Beth Durst

Mina had always been quiet.

She'd been born without a cry on a peaceful night when the stars over their family farm sparkled brighter than usual, or so her mother liked to say.

With calm, capable farmer parents, sandwiched between her affectionately playful older brother and the ebullient toddler twins, Mina is happy to listen quietly to the happy talk around her--until one morning she has something important to say:

"I think my egg is going to hatch soon."

Only one in four children in the land are give weather-beast eggs at the age of twelve, with a charge to nurture them until they are mature enough to go to the school where together they train for duties controlling natural energy for the utopian land of Alorria. There are sun beasts and rain beasts and wind beasts who maintain perfect temperature, breezes, and perfect rainfall for perfect crops for their land, but only a few of those beasts are storm beasts, who with their child guardians astride them, fly into storms to gather the electricity that provides the energy source for the entire land. But when her egg hatches into an energetic scale-sparking storm beast, Mina fears that she and Pixit must be mistakenly mismatched.

But Mina loves her beast and goes bravely off with Pixit for their training at Mytris Lightning School. She is overwhelmed by her daredevil roommate Jyx and their adventurous classmates Ferro and Zek, and most of her conversations are the silent mind-to-mind kind she shares with Pixit, who loyally helps her hide her inability to collect lightning for Alorria's power grid. But when the novice students are sent out to intercept a giant electrical storm on the boundary of their land, Mina and Pixit are lost from the others over the mountain peaks and fall from the sky into the forbidden land beyond Alorria's border.

Hurt and terrified, Mina and Pixit are rescued and cared for in a family outpost of the borderland people whom they have been taught to fear. And what they tell Mina reveals that the perfection of Alorria exists at the expense of those surviving outside their perfect world, and Mina realizes that she must find her true voice and speak what she has learned to her own people--and soon!

"All weather is connected and the sky is all one piece."

Sarah Beth Durst's forthcoming Spark (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion, 2019) chronicles Mina's coming of age as she learns that her utopian Alorria is actually a dystopian state maintained at the expense of the rest of their planet. Young readers familiar with the Harry Potter canon will recognize the parallels of both the boarding school setting and the premise of the battle between good and evil in this well-imagined other-worldly fantasy with a real world sense of the responsibility to speak truth to power. Mina's own spark of courage and sense for environmental justice makes her a most appealing realistic heroine in this inventive new fantasy novel.

East Is East and West Is West: Gondra's Treasure by Linda Sue Park

My mom's family comes from the West.

Dad's family is from the East. My name is Gondra, and I was born
somewhere in the middle.

Dragons from the West fly with wings and have green scales. They also breathe fire.

Dragons from the East fly by magic and have golden scales. They breathe mist.

When Gondra was born, a teeny flame came from one nostril and a trace of mist came from the other.

"Adorable!" said her mom.

Dad agreed she was perfect.

Gondra can't wait for her tiny wings to grow big enough to fly. So far she sees no sign of magic like Dad's, but she soon spots a few new greenish blue scales on her tail.

Dad is so proud that he mists up the living room and makes it rain.

But sometimes Mom and Dad quibble about their differences. Dad thinks hoarding a treasure trove in a cave can't hold a candle to flying over the earth and magically controlling the weather.

"Where I come from, humans love dragons," says Dad.

Mom said, "In the West, humans haven't always loved dragons. But they do love stories about us!"

East is East and West is West, and Gondra is sure that she is the best of both.

After all, she is her Mom and Dad's treasure in Linda Sue Park's sweet fantasy story of picking the best from the family tree, in Newbery author Linda Sue Park's fanciful family tale, the forthcoming Gondra's Treasure (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion, 2019).  It may be a bit of a fairy-tale family, but Gondra's parents do banter over whose way is best, ("Compared to fire, mist is...um, pretty boring," Mom mutters to herself, ), and Dad rejoices when Gondra sprouts a few blue scales like his. And like all little ones, Gondra blossoms in her parents' pride and love.

Artist Jennifer Black Reinhardt artfully skips the cliches in drawing dragons, giving all three characters their own colorful individual look while keeping to the actual archetypes of both types of dragons with an abundance of imagination and creativity in this definitely different dragon tale. Perfect for building healthy self-concepts and sparking conversations about family history.

Author Park appends an Author's Note, full of both Eastern and Western dragon lore and suggests why peoples of all ages of history have loved dragon stories.

Knight School: How to Become A Knight in Ten Easy Lessons by Todd Tarpley

KNIGHT NEEDED
APPLY AT CASTLE

Young Sam wants to go to knight school, and Sir Simpleton is the king's designated knight trainer.
Sir Simpleton claims the right credentials.

"Professional Dragon Tamer, Sword Fighter, World Explorer"

But when Sam shows up for his first lesson, he can't help questioning Sir Simpleton's follow-through on his own dictums.

Sir Simpleton insists that Sam's armor must be shining, but the actual suit of armor he offers is rusty and tarnished. He recommends a sturdy charger as Sam's mount, but returns leading a swaybacked donkey. Rescuing a princess in peril turns out to be a do-it-yourself operation for Sam and for the princess, who bravely swings down from her tower on her own rope. When Sir Simpleton recommends consulting a magical wizard, he provides a bearded goat.

However, some of Sir Simpleton's advice seems judicious, especially what to do before gallantly galloping out of the castle:

Always be sure the drawbridge is down!

It's a medieval mess, in Todd Tarpley's How-To How to Become a Knight (in Ten Easy Lessons) (Sterling, 2018), as Sam perseveres toward knighthood. Artist Jen Horney is in on the joke, with flamboyant illustrations of Sir Simpleton's absurd recommendations and Sam's successful efforts to school himself as a knight that provide much of the humor in this fanciful Hard Day's Knight.

Stone Quest! The Wrath of the Dragon King (Dragonwatch) by Brandon Mull

Behind him, dragons roared. As he slipped into the little cave, Seth's last glance show the tentacled dragon rising. He kept still, holding his breath, pressed back against the rear of the cave. "Come OUT!" a slithery voice called. "I saw you enter, Caretaker. Surrender!"

A head snaked into cave, mostly filling the tunnel. Seth felt fear, but he slashed his sword through the grasping tentacles, severing at least four. Ichor fountained. "For Kendra," Seth murmured.

"You die now!" the dragon declared. Seth held his sword ready. Suddenly the head flopped to the floor and stopped advancing.

"Hurry, boy!" a deep voice boomed. "I'm your Dragon Slayer!" It was the Somber Knight.

"A dragon ate Kendra," Seth said, surprised that he could spit out the dreadful words.

"No," the Somber Knight said. "Your sister lives."

Seth and Kendra, young Caretakers of Blackwell Keep, guardians of all the fairyfolk and magical creatures who have taken refuge there, have had an invitation they couldn't refuse, an invitation from Celebrant, the fearsome Dragon King, to a Feast of Welcome. The dragons are revolting against confinement in their sanctuary, eager to break out to control the known world, and Seth and Kendra, child caretakers of the domain of Wyrmroost, scarcely trust the safe passage promised by the dragons while traveling to Celebrant's Feast. But to refuse the invitation is to be summarily attacked, so with a promise of a sacred truce during the Feast, the two children fly to the dragon's lair on griffon back. But the fears and warnings of their friends come true. Celebrant provokes a confrontation with his most deadly rival for the Dragon throne and after a gory and grisly battle, announces his war on all the Protectorates--Terrabelle, Zowali, Gundertan, Herdlands, the Sludgeholes, and of course Wyrmroost.

Their trusty griffons slaughtered by the dragons, Seth and Kendra survive a near-death experience in the perilous journey back to Blackwell Keep, realizing that they must lead the resistance to Celebrant's dragon army to save their world. Seth learns that the secret to overpowering the Dragon King is the legendary Wizenstone, concealed within the remote and cursed Stormguard Castle. Accessible only on the festival nights of the solstices and equinoxes, it is a place where all, even dragons, must appear human form and no magical powers may be used. But to find their way to the Castle, the two must have the help of the powerful fairy Rivenmay.

Because she is Fairykind, Kendra is chosen to traverse the Bewilderness, a place where only those things which appear most wrong are right. Kendra finds Rivenmay and gains her aid, and now she and Seth must confront their deadly rivals inside Stormguard and outwit them in the quest for the sacred Wizenstone to save their world from the dragons' wrath.

For young readers who love sword and sorcery fantasy, Brandon Mull's second in his Fablehaven spinoff series, Wrath of the Dragon King (Dragonwatch) (Shadow Mountain, 2018) has the fantastic in spades. Mull's Dragonwatch world contains fantastic creatures known and heretofore unknown and a convoluted plotline with more twists and turns than a dragon's tentacles. Young dragonslayers will journey gladly through as bizarre and yet familiar a world as that of J. R, R, Tolkien, a place where the savvy who are willing to suspend disbelief will find their home.

The best-selling Brandon Mull's first book in this series is Dragonwatch: A Fablehaven Adventure.

Adopt-A-Dragon: Baby Dragon Finger Puppet Book by Victoria Ying

IN A COZY CAVE,

BABY DRAGON WAKES UP.

This little dragon is ready to sally forth from his nursery lair to learn what a young dragon needs to know in the world.

Dragons must protect their lairs and their hoard inside. To do that Baby Dragon must learn to exhale flames without setting the wrong things on fire! OOPS!

That's going to take some practice!

Next, he has to master flying! With his new little wings, he takes his first flights. His first trial flights are more like hops, but finally he is soaring way up in the sky. Congratulations on your launch, little dragon!

It's "Mission accomplished," in Victoria Ying's brand-new Baby Dragon: Finger Puppet Book (Little Finger Puppet Board Books) (Chronicle Books, 2018), the latest in the publisher's series of tiny finger puppet books which each have a plushy figure with just enough room for one big finger, or two toddler fingers, peeking out of the die-cut cover and on every page, to power Baby Dragon's moves--looking up and down and in all directions and flapping his baby wings.

Good for practice in fine-motor coordination and great for making up your own Baby Dragon tales, Baby Dragon joins many other finger puppet books in Chronicle's series, and follows the publication of his fellow mythological beast, Baby Unicorn: Finger Puppet Book.

Standing Room Only! Room On The Broom by Julia Donaldson

The witch had a cat and a hat that was black....

She's just your ordinary, regulation witch, warts and all, when she and her purring feline familiar take off for some witchery by the light of a full moon.

But this witch seems not quite able to keep it together.

First she loses her pointy hat, but a dog retrieves that. And then he asks THE question:

I am a dog,
As keen as can be.
Is there room on the broom
For a dog like me?

The witch and cat make room and up they zoom... until the witch loses the bow on her braid. But a big black bird finds the bow, and with a simple request, just like that, off they all go, witch, dog, bird, and cat.

So far so good, until...

They shot through the sky
To the Back of Beyond.
The witch clutched her bow,
But let go of her wand.

A witch without a wand just can't go on, so there's another emergency landing. But down on the ground it's nowhere to be found, until from the bog comes a frog with the dripping wet wand:

He dropped it politely
Then said with a croak,
As the witch dried the wand
on a fold of her cloak:

I'm a frog,
Clean as can be,
Is there room on the broom
For a frog like me?

Of course there is, but there is yet another obstacle to their mission, a fire-breathing sky dragon in the mood for a crispy witch entree' with a side of critter fries.

But with a nod to the tale of the Brementown Musicians, this witch gets by with a little help from her keen, clean, and clever friends, in this new lap-sized board book version, Room on the Broom Board Book (Dial Books, 2017 (New Am. Ed.), and in this delightful cumulative tale, the witch stirs up a new and improved broom with comfy seating for all her friends.

Julia Donaldson's leisurely rhyming narrative provides plenty of room to interpolate funny voices and spooky sound effects, making this one of the very best picture books for Halloween read-alouds. This large-sized edition shows off artist Alex Scheffler's terrific, detailed, and comic illustrations that extend the text in a story that merits many readings. And for a killer-diller combo, share this one with Linda William's wonderful The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything for a drop-dead Halloween duo.

Letter Perfect! Dear Dragon: A Pen-Pal Tale by Josh Funk

Hello, students! Our Poetry and Pen Pal Projects this year are combined.

Open your desks. You will see the pen pal you have been assigned. Make sure the letters you write are all in rhyme.

Young George is a bit daunted with his assignment as he opens his first letter from his pen pal:

Dear George Slair,

I usually don't like writing, but... I'll try it, I suppose.
A fort is like a castle. I love attacking those.
                                      Sincerely, Blaise Dragomir

Hmmm. George's pen pal sounds promising: he even likes to sky-dive. Wow! He writes back, asking if Blaise has a pet. Blaise claims that he has a Bengal kitten, and George is impressed, imagining Blaise diving through the sky with a tiger on his team.

And actually George is not too far off the mark. His pen pal, Blaise Dragomir, is actually a young dragon, but as George Slair and Blaise Dragomir continue their correspondence, they find out that they have a lot of things in common, even if their dads have really different jobs (fire-breather vs. demolition), and when their teachers announce that the P.P.P.P. will end with a picnic, they are psyched about finally meeting their pen pals.

But there are some surprises in store for the two groups of epistolary poets!

"Blaise?"

"George?"

All ends well, with the pen pals playing nonstop in the park, in Josh Funk's Dear Dragon: A Pen Pal Tale (Viking, 2016). Young readers may note the clues in Funk's clever names for his correspondents, and some may guess Blaise Dragomir's true identity as the letter exchange continues, with visual cues provided by artist Rodolfo Montalvo's light-hearted and busy full-bleed illustrations, with the theme that despite differences, all kids have a lot of common.

For more humorous human-dragon interchanges, share this book with Adam Salieri's best-selling hit Dragons Love Tacos and sequels (read review here).

R.S.V.P.? Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner by Julie Gassman

IT'S A SPECIAL OCCASION. IT'S TIME FOR A TREAT.
TIME TO DRESS UP AND GO OUT TO EAT.

But despite how much you love your, er, pet, most of them are not an asset to a special dinner party at a restaurant. And of all those special family "friends," one high on the list to leave at home is your dragon!

Dragons are not dedicated to dainty dining etiquette!

A WING IN YOUR FACE! A TAIL IN A DRINK!
AND WORST OF ALL, THAT DISTINCT DRAGON STINK!

Dragons are also prone to slurp and burp at will. Their incredibly messy eating and rude noises are disgusting enough to clear the restaurant so effectively that your dinner party soon becomes a private party. But maybe there's a better way to celebrate.

If you party at home, the dragon can be helpful. He can light all the birthday candles with one breath! Then you can all exhale and enjoy the meal. Maybe your dragon will even learn some table manners--like using his napkin to wipe his mouth instead of the whole tablecloth, eating with the appropriate silverware instead of his claws. and when to say "Please" and "Thank you!"

PRACTICE THIS OFTEN AND YOUR ETIQUETTE BEGINNER
WILL SOON BE TAKING YOU OUT TO DINNER!

Julie Gassman's Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner (Capstone Press, 2017) slips in a small lesson in manners along with her comic description of the dangers of dining out with a dragon. The author favors jolly rhyming couplets, which scan more neatly than her protagonist eats, and her rhymes and rhythm make this one a pleasure to read, aloud or silently. Taking a page from Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? (Book & CD), (see review here), Gassman's newest puts in a plug for proper table manners by slyly pointing out the gross-out factor of bad dining habits, all the while keeping kids in stitches, gleefully chiming in on the tag line, "DO NOT TAKE YOUR DRAGON TO DINNER!" The broad humor here is helped greatly by artist Andy Elkerton's exaggerated sight gags of the downside of dining with dragons. Share it with Sally Lloyd-Wright's Being a Pig Is Nice: A Child's-Eye View of Manners for a funny take on the downside of dining without rules.

Et 2, Taco? Dragons Love Tacos 2 : The Sequel by Adam Rubin

HEY, KID! WHY ARE YOUR DRAGON FRIENDS CRYING?

NO WONDER THEY'RE UPSET!

Tacos have gone extinct.

Everybody loves tacos, but as we know dragons love tacos more than anyone!

REMEMBER THAT TIME WE HAD AN AWESOME TACO PARTY?

What has gone wrong? It seems that there has been an interruption of the supply chain and over-consumption by consumers, and... now?

THERE ARE NO MORE TACOS. NONE. NADA. NIL.

And as we all know, when dragons aren't happy, nobody's happy!

The Taco Lobby is steamed, and they roll into action in no time flat!

Tortilla puns aside, it comes down to some human kids to fill the void. And they have a plan. They will fire up ye olde time machine and zip back to the time when there was a plentitude of tacos for the planet and bring back a fresh supply. There will again be, to, er, coin a metaphoric phrase, a taco truck on every corner.

What could go wrong?

Well, calibrating the rusty old wayback machine takes some tinkering. Its first voyage finds the mission crew back in the terrible time of the too-fiery-for-dragons'-tummies taco sauce, and a second try is even more alarming, another plane of existence where--horrors!--

TACOS LOVE DRAGONS?

Hey, WAIT! We can't have tacos eating our dragons? A subsequent valiant try takes them into an alternate world where there are dragons, but these dragons are, um, to put it delicately, decidedly different.

DRAGONS LOVE DIAPERS?

Will the intrepid time travelers track down the time of superabundant tacos and restore peace to the planet? There's many a slip between taco and lip, but the fun is in getting there, in Adam Rubin's spicy sequel to his hot-selling Dragons Love Tacos (Read my salsa-splattered review here), the piping hot-off-the-press Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel (Dial Books, 2017). Already a hot seller, Rubin's sequel has his heroic kids teaching dragons how to "cultivate" their favorite foods (Taco trees? Really?) and gives artist Daniel Salmieri an opportunity to let his riotous dragons romp and rumble again in his pencil, gouache, and watercolored illustrations that fill each page with witty details. Separate or together, dragons and tacos are popular fare, and this new one by this dynamic duo is a tasty treat for young readers.

Misbehaving! Dragon Was Terrible by Kelly Dipucchio

NATURALLY, DRAGONS HAVE A BIT OF TERRIBLE IN THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE DRAGONS.

BUT THIS DRAGON HERE? TERRIBLE!

Dragons are supposed to keep their smoky mischief beyond the pale, properly out in countryside caves, curating their hoards and blasting knights on chargers seeking adventure and fame.

But this one? He's just a home-town jerk!

HE SCRIBBLED IN BOOKS.

HE TOOK CANDY FROM BABY UNICORNS.

HE SPIT ON CUPCAKES!

(WHO DOES THAT?)

The king advertises for brave knights to rid the walled city of this threat to civil deportment, but the run-of-the-mill heroes all fail. Dragon continues in his deplorable behavior.

HE BURPED IN CHURCH.

But a brave young lad in a feathered cap steps up to the challenge. He sets up an easel and sketches out the beginnings of a story. He lays a trail of marshmallows to lead Dragon to a shady tree where the lad settles himself, reading a storybook aloud. Dragon feigns disinterest, but circles around and stealthily climbs the tree to listen. Just as the story gets really interesting....

SNAP! CRASH! DRAGON LANDED WITH A THUD ON THE GROUND.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR HOW THE STORY ENDS?" THE BOY ASKED.

DRAGON SMILED.

It seems even impudent dragons delight in a good story, especially one with a hero dragon, in Kelly DiPucchio's latest, Dragon Was Terrible (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016),  With the help of noted artist Greg Pizzoli's comic cartoon characters, kids will laugh at this rude dragon, a perfectly awful spoiled preschooler type, who nevertheless falls for a good storyline, turning the page on beastly behavior for his inner dragon. "This is one terribly good dragon tale that will leave readers laughing," says Kirkus in their starred review.

Misbehaving! Dragon Was Terrible by Kelly Dipucchio

NATURALLY, DRAGONS HAVE A BIT OF TERRIBLE IN THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE DRAGONS.

BUT THIS DRAGON HERE? TERRIBLE!

Dragons are supposed to keep their smoky mischief beyond the pale, properly out in countryside caves, curating their hoards and blasting knights on chargers seeking adventure and fame.

But this one? He's just a home-town jerk!

HE SCRIBBLED IN BOOKS.

HE TOOK CANDY FROM BABY UNICORNS.

HE SPIT ON CUPCAKES!

(WHO DOES THAT?)

The king advertises for brave knights to rid the walled city of this threat to civil deportment, but the run-of-the-mill heroes all fail. Dragon continues in his deplorable behavior.

HE BURPED IN CHURCH.

But a brave young lad in a feathered cap steps up to the challenge. He sets up an easel and sketches out the beginnings of a story. He lays a trail of marshmallows to lead Dragon to a shady tree where the lad settles himself, reading a storybook aloud. Dragon feigns disinterest, but circles around and stealthily climbs the tree to listen. Just as the story gets really interesting....

SNAP! CRASH! DRAGON LANDED WITH A THUD ON THE GROUND.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR HOW THE STORY ENDS?" THE BOY ASKED.

DRAGON SMILED.

It seems even impudent dragons delight in a good story, especially one with a hero dragon, in Kelly DiPucchio's latest, Dragon Was Terrible (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016),  With the help of noted artist Greg Pizzoli's comic cartoon characters, kids will laugh at this rude dragon, a perfectly awful spoiled preschooler type, who nevertheless falls for a good storyline, turning the page on beastly behavior for his inner dragon. "This is one terribly good dragon tale that will leave readers laughing," says Kirkus in their starred review.