Tammi Sauer is the author of All Kinds of Special, Mr.
Duck Means Business, Mostly Monsterly, Chicken
Dance, Cowboy Camp, and other books. She has worked as both a
teacher and library media specialist. She lives in Oklahoma with
her husband and two children. Visit her at TammiSauer.com.
Liz Starin studied illustration at the Fashion Institute of
Technology and the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig,
Germany. Before turning to the creative side of children’s books,
Liz was an editor with Junior Library Guild. She currently works as
a software developer and lives in Brooklyn. Visit her at
LizStarin.com.
Who said St. George had the last word when it comes to dragons? Not
Sauer's mite, nor his fire-breathing friends. A ragamuffin makes
himself a dragon costume. He may look like one of the lads from
Sherwood Forest, but he plays the part of a dragon well. Well...not
so much when two real dragons drop by for a visit. "ROAR! Look at
me, look at me! I'm a dragon." "No. You're not," says a dragon.
Why, I tower over my cat, I'm toothy, I breathe fire, the
boy...well...suggests. Take a look, the dragons suggest in
return—not at all superior about their talents, but there's no
doubting who's a dragon and who's a kid. "Waaaaaaaaahhhh!" wahs the
kid, sealing the fact he's no dragon. But look what you can do, the
dragons say: play hide-and-seek, turn cartwheels, and eat ice cream
(the dragons dismally fail at all these). "Waaaaaaaaahhh!" wah the
dragons, jeopardizing their dragon status with all the wahing when
it dawns on them what they are missing. No one likes to see dragons
cry, so the boy points out their commonalities: they can all make
silly and scary faces; they can all do the funky monkey. What more,
really, do friends need, other than to share time and do weird
things? Friendship can be pretty simple, at least at the start, and
Sauer—along with some glittering, inviting artwork from Starin—is
an encouragement to jump in, despite the incongruities, maybe even
because of them. Big hearted, heart gladdening, and—best—a
light-hearted approach to finding friends.
*Kirkus Reviews*
A young boy, draped in a dragon costume, is convinced he was born
to play the part of a dragon. That is, until two actual dragons
appear and negate all the ways the boy thinks he fits the bill. He
is not big, scary, or fierce enough. The boy’s discouragement at
this revelation prompts the dragons to point out all the ways that
being a boy is cooler than being a dragon, which in turn leaves the
dragons discouraged. Will the boy and the dragons ever find common
ground? Sketchlike illustrations polished with watercolor make this
title vivid while maintaining a childlike, hopeful quality. The
resolution is particularly clever and fun. VERDICT A solid purchase
for collections needing whimsy, dragons, and
friendship-despite-differences tales.
*School Library Journal*
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