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Monday, May 28, 2012

HOW TO BE FRIENDS WITH A DRAGON- Valeri Gorbachev

I've been away from blogging for a couple of weeks. Busy with prom and graduation on the home front, and publishing final projects, completing report cards, and packing up a classroom on the school front. Decided to start my summer bookaday with a picture book that's been waiting almost a month to be reviewed. HOW TO BE FRIENDS WITH A DRAGON by Valerie Gorbachev is a perfect book for re-entering the world of kidlitosphere.

Simon is a little boy who loves anything dragon- dragon toys, dragon books, and drawing dragons. One day, he decides he would like a dragon for a friend. He is not quite sure, however, about how to be friends with a dragon, so he asks his sister, Emma, for a little advice. She has plenty, including, among other things-- don't let the dragon know you are scared (Simon doesn't think he will be scared because he loves dragons!), don't say his ancestors look frightening when the dragon shows you his family pictures, and don't poke a stick in his nose while he's sleeping,

A really sweet book about friendship with a little bit of a surprise at the end. Perfect for initiating a discussion about friendship during the first few weeks of school, or just sharing in a "Friends" basket in a primary grade classroom. I could also see using it as a mentor text for "list books" or specificity in an third or fourth grade classroom.

Review copy provided by publisher.

1 comment:

Linda B said...

I love dragon books & think I started when my daughter was young. We read the Yolen dragon books together, then I came across dragon plays, of which I had four or five, like The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame, and so on. Yolen also has another dragon anthology out. I've done a whole poetry unit using these books, & imagination really. Even with middle schoolers, they were delighted. This looks wonderful, Carol. I put it on my wish list.