Not Your Typical Dragon

PreS-Gr 2—This tale breathes a whiff of didacticism into its sweet rumination on being different. On his seventh birthday, Crispin Blaze is supposed to breathe fire for the first time, but whipped cream comes out of the little dragon's mouth instead. At the doctor's office, Band-Aids emerge, and whenever Crispin tries to breathe fire, he fails. Afraid of disappointing his family, he runs away and he is befriended by a knight charged with fighting a fire-breathing dragon. When Crispin becomes homesick, the two are welcomed back by the youngster's parents, and Crispin soon gets an opportunity to save the day and be accepted. The humorous text moves along smoothly; expect kids to chime in with the line "but fire did not come out." Bowers's bug-eyed characters are appealing, expressive, and never scary, and the mix of spot art, single-page pictures, and spreads moves the story along effectively. The text emphasizes the positives of being unique, and the use of a dragon breathing a variety of odd and humorous things leavens the message. Not an essential purchase, but a pleasant addition.—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT