The Dragon in the Sock Drawer by Kate Klimo, Random House, 2008.
Klimo's story, is the first in a series. This is a lighthearted, middle grade fantasy. The design is nicely formatted with one inch margins and a readable typeface. Illustrator John Shroades has decorated the first page of each chapter with an illustrated preview in a dragon scale frame. The cover art of the bright green baby dragon was one of the first things that drew me to this book (that and the dragon subject matter.)
The story follows the tradition of boy-finds-rock-that-turns-out-to-be-a-dragon-egg and the-egg-hatches. A bad guy named Dr. St. George is after the dragon so the two children, Jesse and Daisy must hide and protect the baby.
I applaud Klimo for the ending of the story. Ponder most children's book where a young person has care of a wild or fantasy creature. The bird with the damaged wing is set free to return to its flock, the baby mermaid goes home to its mother, THE DOG DIES...
As the sun sets on these tales, the children are left older and wiser, having learned a life lesson from their experience.
Here, Klimo has given Jesse and Daisy a happy ending, helpful to a sequel, no doubt.
Still, SALUTE!
I was very happy with the allusion to St. George. Hopefully this will send the young'un to Margaret Hodges and Trina Schart Hyman's elegant, award-winning Saint George and the Dragon.
1 comment:
I am the mom of a 4th grade boy (10 years old) and I have been trying to make sure he does his required reading for school. They are to read a book of their choice each night and I picked up "The Dragon and the Sock Drawer" encouraged by another author's comments. I am reading it with him so I am able to ask him questions to make sure he is actually doing his work. I thought the story was very cute. It kept me wondering what was going to happen next, there was some suspense in wanting to know what was going to happen. I am going to buy the next book so I can read it and I will be bringing it to the attention of my son's teacher!
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