I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Waking Dragons
by
Jane Yolen
fantasy, picture book in Hardcover edition that was published by Simon & Schuster for Young Readers on October 23, 2012 and has 32 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Illustrator: Derek Anderson
A picture book that turns the morning activities of getting out of bed and getting ready for the day into fun.
My Take
LOL, I loved the note on the door from Mom: “Don’t forget to to wake the dragons before school”. A task immediately followed up on by our young knight and his faithful companion on the very next spread of pages as he climbs a ladder to get into that dragon bed.
The colors are cheerful and have a softness to them that make me want to tumble into bed and snuggle with the dragons.
Oh, man, the dog is standing by with a fire extinguisher — “in case of dragon breath”! Ya never know what’ll happen when brushing dragon teeth.
I must confess that I got confused at the end, as the dragons fly off to school with our young knight and his dog. Fly off to Knight School, they do. And leaves me hanging.
I want to know where Mom is and why the knight has to get the dragons up. Why do the dragons have to get up at all for school? Where are they going? What’s with mama dragon outside the cave/castle?
The Story
Ah, the ordeal of getting the “kids” up for school and the tasks involved from brushing your toofies to jammies in the hamper and then scampering down to a breakfast of waffles and syrup — our young knight needs to work on his aim, lol — before flying off to school.
The Characters
A little boy in his armor with his faithful yellow dog.
An orange dragon and a green dragon with their teeny wings and smoking noses. Mama dragon.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a close-up inside the dragon bedroom with the arch of the window looming large, even larger than that orange dragon head with his two fangs hanging down, poking out from under his purple sheets and blue blanket. It’s a very tiny knight in his helmet, gloves, and top, as he coaxes that dragon into waking up.
The title is what is involved in Waking Dragons.
