Melric and the Dragon by David McKee

Melric and the Dragon by David McKee
Buy Melric and the Dragon by David McKee at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Zoe Morris
Summary: The King needs to keep his soldiers occupied, so a hoard of dragons loose in the Kingdom is almost a good thing… almost.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: July 2015
Publisher: Andersen Press
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1783441624
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There's a hoard of dragons loose in the kingdom! Crikey! Luckily the King has a whole army of soldiers with nothing else on their plate (except quite a few jam sandwiches) so he has plenty of troops to send on a search and destroy mission. Melric, the trusty magician, is a bit smarter, though, and wants to find out what's going on before the soldiers go stomping off. When he finds just one, friendly dragon (and a chocolate cake eating dragon, no less), he's torn. Can he find a way to keep him safe without getting in the way of the King's plans?

I've not come across Melric before but I clocked his type immediately: smart and sensible, he likes to find out the facts rather than jumping the gun in the way the King does. Melric's a nice guy and you can see how hard he tries to make a plan come together, despite a few stumbling blocks. The King's nice too, of course, he's just a bit more dozy. But no, it's Melric to the rescue and, because this is aimed at the pre-school brigade, you can expect a suitably happy ending, with a bit of a twist. Utterly charming.

David McKee produces awesome books with some brilliant characters, and this is just one more to add to the collection with the likes of Elmer and King Rollo. You can see how fabulous it is even before the story starts as the inside cover is awash with colour and magic. The book has a lovely and funny story with lots of hope followed by hiccups and there are lots of nods towards everyday life that kids and parents alike will delight in, such as the chocolate smeared faces (even soldiers aren't immune). Attention to detail is impeccable – Mertel's home has all the essentials, for example, from books to framed photos to houseplants – and Guz's dilemma is sure to make everyone laugh, sympathetically, at the poor spotty monsters. It's just all so well done and perfectly pitched for this age group striking just the right balance between serious and silly.

The illustrations are beautiful and I loved some of the facial expressions but it's the group scenes I really enjoyed because there's so much going on in them you could dissect and talk about them for ages. I don't know how you imagine something like that in the first place but I'm so glad McKee has that talent because it means books like this are a delight for all of us to enjoy.

I'd like to thank the publishers for supplying this book. It's already a classic and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It's a big old myth that all dragons are horrible and scary, as Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow, Lenny Lipton and Eric Puybaret also shows.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Melric and the Dragon by David McKee 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 Melric and the Dragon by David McKee at Amazon.com.

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