Dragons: Father and Son by Alexandre Lacroix and Ronan Badel
| Dragons: Father and Son by Alexandre Lacroix and Ronan Badel | |
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| Category: Emerging Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: A very pleasing and intelligently subtle picture book with evidence that everyone benefits when dragons find they needn't conform. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: September 2017 |
| Publisher: words & pictures | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781910277232 | |
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You know dragons. They're there to look splendid and fierce, and to burn down human villages in rampages, with or without treasure in mind. But they need to be trained in that. And our father dragon has just tasked his son dragon with that very errand - to go and torch a human house. The lad is reluctant to cook anything more severe than lunch - what could possibly happen?
Well, the result from this book is a lesson in not doing what your forefathers have done if it means doing good for the common all. It's a lesson in not following your nature if that nature is routinely bad. It's also a flippant and quite joyful look at the life of a dragon family, complete with undefined pet bird thing for the dragon child, and patio furniture for the adult dragon. The adult purchaser or sharer of this will appreciate the breezy whimsy (if not the abrupt ending), and the target junior audience will love the tale that goes counter to the typical dragon ferocity, and the agency with which the dragon son chooses his own path.
It's a very suitable picture book, with colourfully inked illustrations covering more than a page each, and between one and six easy paragraphs per spread. It doesn't force any moral or pacifism lesson, it just is - and what it is is spot on. It's actually written by a French philosopher and high-brow author, who has turned to love in a sequel concerning these, or similar, dragons - either way they are really quite likeable.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy. We also have a review of The Lazy Friend by Ronan Badel.
Madge Eekal's Christmas by Colleen Jacey and Zed Jacey tells the young audience to do what they can, not what they may not ever be able to – a similar and equally valid moral.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Dragons: Father and Son by Alexandre Lacroix and Ronan Badel at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Dragons: Father and Son by Alexandre Lacroix and Ronan Badel at Amazon.com.
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