Author: Julie Leung
Illustrator: Hanna Cha
A mom reads a richly illustrated bed time story to her toddler about going on an expedition to figure out the truth about dragons. The pictures make you feel as if you are right in the adventure with him. The truth sayers are two old women living in very different landscapes and showing him two different dragons. Do I reveal the truh about who the truth sayers are? I guess I will leave it to the book.
Author: David LaRochelle
Illustrator: Lain Cho
As I continue reading these books to the five year old, dragons seem to be emerging as one of the really attractive books for kids. This book has 100 dragons. The author turns them to ballerinas, surfers, poodles, unicorns, werewolves and even football players. He ships them off to Hawaii, France, Sweden, New York City and to states in all directions of the United States. He gives them sunglasses, Tutus, guitars and drums. They travel in cruise ships, planes and trains. Such a rich, diverse landscape of storytelling only means the pictures need to be near perfect. Lian Cho does a brilliant job with her illustrations. My daughter couldn’t stop pointing at all the silly things the dinosaurs were doing. This is a fantastic book.
Author: Adam Rubin. Illustrator: Daniel Salmieri
I love the ridiculous idea. I kept searching to see if the dragons are being used as a metaphor for kids. But no, the dragons really love tacos. They end up eating a few forbidden ones and they do some crazy things for humans but stuff that is on par for dragons. The illustrations by Daniel Salmieri are a delight. Pant Loads of Tacos and Boatloads of Tacos always make my 5 year old laugh out loud. The sequel did not work for her. The idea of a time machine was too much for her to wrap around. But the first book is a stroke of genius.
I read nightly to my five year old and I am reading her Caldecott medal winning books or Caldecott Honor books.
We recently read the Knight Owl by Christopher Denise. The illustrations are perfect – an owl who wants to be a Knight who is perservering, clever and strong. The reveal in the section where he smartly escapes and befriends the dragon is so humorous. We borrow 10-12 books from the library every week and she held on to this one for a while . We read it multiple times over multiple weeks. We definitely recommend it.
Book Link: https://bookshop.org/p/books/knight-owl-christopher-denise/16321815?ean=9780316310628
