One day someone asked me, if I had a dragon, what would it be like. I realised that almost every day it would be different. Some days I would like a big dragon to fight battles for me, sometimes a small dragon to curl around my ear and tell me stories. Each day a different dragon, but each one mine. And so I wrote Tell Me a Dragon. Jackie Morris
I am a huge fan of Jackie Morris and her art. Take a look at my previous post.
It seems essential to me that we share picture books with our children that contain breathtaking art and scrumptious language - and that is the combination you will find in Tell me a Dragon.
Here are a few text samples:
"My dragon is made from the sun and the stars. Sparkled with stardust."
"My dragon eats sweet, perfumed flowers. When she laughs, petals ride on her breath."
"My dragons are tiny, with whisper-thin wings of rainbow hues."
Tell me a Dragon has a cover that extends across the front and back and the end papers are filled with eggs of all colours and sizes at the front while at the back the baby dragons have begun to hatch. Just a perfect book design and inside you will find, as I already said, the most wonderful illustrations.
Here is a video of Jackie Morris reading her book.
This book is still in print (first published in 2009) but it is way way too expensive for any school library to consider purchasing which is such a shame. In 2009 the school library where I borrowed Tell me a Dragon paid $28 but today this same book is nearly $43 from one online Australian supplier. The new edition was published in 2018. So I really want to say this book should be an essential addition to any school library - mine always had lots of very keen dragon fans - but really I am sure no one could afford this hefty price. Perhaps you might be lucky and find a second hand copy - I do hope so.
Images from Jackie Morris come from her Twitter page. You could use this book with an art class as jumping off point to talk about portrayal of dragons by children's book illustrators:
1 comment:
Your blog is beautiful and inspirational. Thank you!
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