Raising Dragons

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

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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.

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When a farm girl takes care of a dragon egg and then baby dragon, the dragon repays her by helping out with the farm work. In the end the dragon must leave to join the other dragons, but she is given more eggs to raise. Raising dragons is her line of work.

What a warm hearted story this is. I love the tone. The way the little overall clad, barefooted, pigtailed girl narates the story of how she discovered the huge multi color egg that hatched into a baby dragon that she raised and sent off on his own is just delightful. A grandmother such as myself

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who has experienced the cycle of launching her children can really relate. This award winning book would make an excellent read-aloud for early primary grades. At the end when Hank the dragon is gone the little girl sees in the sky another dragon and there on the ground are more eggs. She concludes with: "The same way Pa knew that farming was in his blood, I knew that raising dragons was in mine.

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This book is good for kindergarten to first grade students. It teaches about the power and the importance of friendship. Also teaches students that anyone can be your friend. This would be great as a starter to introducing a lesson on what you would do if you had a friend dragon and what it would

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look like.

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An unnamed, African American farm girl in the American South discovers a dragon egg on a Sunday evening. She names the dragon Hank and raises him until he is grown, having many adventures along the way. After taking Hank to be with the other dragons, she is gifted more dragon eggs to take care of.

Once again, Jerdine Nolen writes a book that I really do enjoy. The main theme of this book is everyone has a purpose, no matter how strange it might be to you. Nolen again brings coloquial language to the table to help paint the portrait of a rural farm environment. These include instances such as

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"Ma and Pa", "critter", and "plumb flabbergasted!" These help paint an accurate setting for our characters and makes sure they fit into the environment at hand. The illustrations match the wonderous fantasy story, and even darker settings; such as the cave or night time flying are not scary or intimidating. They are just magical, hopeful, and inspiring; like the book itself.

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This book is not quite what I expected, but I think it was a really good book. It was very magical, and the pictures were really unique and cute.

I enjoyed the novel Raising Dragons because of its exciting plot and beautiful, colorful artwork. Readers are easily captivated by this story as it develops when the main character, a little girl who lives on a farm with her family, finds a dragon egg that hatches her new best friend. As the

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friendship develops between her and new pet dragon, the author creatively incorporates the dragon into the family's farm life, making it an exciting read whose plot keeps the audience engaged. For example, after the girls begins taking care of the dragon, the family finds the work on the farm, such as plowing the fields and planting corn, mysteriously finished, but then find out their new pet dragon, Hank, has began to help out. Also, the full-page illustrations bring this story to life and are exciting to look at with their bright colors and hand-painted feel. The detailed colorful views of the farm and imaginative illustration of the little girl on her dragon set this book's illustrations apart from the rest. This story gives its readers the idea of how the most unlikely friendships can turn out to be the best ones which enrich our lives.

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