By: Jerdine Nolen Publisher: Voyager Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Voyager Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 40 Publication Date: September 01, 2002 Reading Level: Ages 4-8
After all, dragons just happen to be perfect friend material. Jerdine Nolen and Elise Primavera team up for the unforgettable story of a young girl and her best friend . . . a dragon.
I can't get enough of this one This is a thoughtful story about how a little girl (judging from the pictures, I'd place her age at 6 or so, but her actions in the book seem to put her closer to 8 or 9 - even considering that fantasy characters get a lot more freedom than real kids!) learned that raising dragons was "in her blood".
There isn't any tragedy in this book. The unnamed girl (closest we get to a name is "Cupcake", but that's probably not intended to be her real name) talks about the great things her dragon does, but there's nothing to scare or upset the little ones. The worst thing that happens is that her dragon becomes popular, so she decides to bring him home - and even then, it's clear he comes back to visit.
It's a really good book. Very vivid, colorful illustrations, realistic dialog, and a charming story.
There are a few things you might want to take note of.
The narrator doesn't speak Standard American English, but instead uses a nonstandard dialect. I think of this as a good thing, but some people do find that a problem, so I thought I'd make that clear.
Also, the whole story does start when the girl deliberately disobeys her parents, it says so explicitly, and there don't seem to be any consequences for that. I don't have a problem with this, but I know some people might.
It should additionally be noted that this is a very long, very wordy book. The cover on my edition suggests that it's for children over the age of six, and I agree. This is not a picture book well suited for toddlers or for children with a very low attention span.
Wonderful book My son has really gotten into dragons lately since he saw the movie eragon. He is only 7 and finding age appropriate stories about dragons is pretty hard. I went through the list and found this book. My son really loves it, he always wants me to read it to him as it is about a little girl who is good at raising dragons. I would highly reccomend this book for children from the ages 5 and up.
Great Read! Book came as promised and was just as enjoyable as the first time I happened upon it in the reading specialist's library. I liked that this whimsical story featured African-American characters as so many of these kinds of stories don't.
Raising Dragons I choose the book "Raising Dragons" because my 6 year old daughter loved the book "Balloon Farm" by the same author. She also likes dragons. The book kept her interest. The little girl raised her dragon from an egg. The illustrations are beautiful.
I ADORE this book. The sweetest relationship between a girl and her dragon that has ever been described. An amazing combination of story and illustration. And it involves a combination of fantasy and rural life that is amazingly rare in children's books. Love it! Love it! Love it!
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
