Dragons

SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

	In Margaret Hodges’s picture book St. George and the Dragon (Little, Brown, 1990), the dragon is thoroughly bad, and St. George definitively does him in after a three-day battle. The story is adapted from Spenser’s “The Faerie Queen” and has beautiful illustrations in the style of illuminated medieval manuscripts. For ages 7-11.
	In Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon (Square Fish, 1988), the dragon would much prefer to stay in his cave writing poetry – but the upset populace recruits Saint George and demands a showdown. Saint George, with the help of the boy who has become the dragon’s friend, comes up with a neat solution. A wonderful story for all ages.
	Read (or listen to) The Reluctant Dragon online.
	Tony DiTerlizzi’s Kenny & the Dragon (Simon & Schuster, 2012) is a riff on Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon (see above). Kenny is a young rabbit whose two friends – George, a retired dragon slayer (now bookseller) and Grahame, a peaceful and highly sophisticated dragon – are being forced to fight by overwrought townspeople. Clever and satisfying. For ages 8 and up.
	Saint George and the Dragon is a teaching unit for elementary-level students including background information on the story and a range of activities, including templates for shadow puppets.

POETIC DRAGONS

	Jack Prelutsky’s The Dragons Are Singing Tonight! (Greenwillow, 1998) is a collection of 17 clever poems about dragons, among them “I Have a Dozen Dragons,” “Nasty Little Dragonsong,” and “I am Boom!” Gorgeously illustrated by Peter Sis. For ages 4-8.
	Dragon Poems by John Foster and Korky Paul (Oxford University Press, 2004) is a marvelously illustrated collection of 23 poems by many different poets, among them X.J. Kennedy, Lilian Moore, and William Jay Smith. For ages 5-11.
	Ogden Nash’s classic The Tale of Custard the Dragon (Little, Brown, 1998) is the rhyming tale of Belinda and Custard, her “realio, trulio, little pet dragon.” Custard is a coward, but he saves the day when Belinda (“brave as a barrel of bears”) is threatened by a pirate. In the sequel Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight, Custard saves Belinda from the wicked Sir Garagoyle.
	Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight Lesson Plan includes  a recipe for Dragon Custard.
	See this Create a Chinese Dragon lesson plan from the Art Institute of Chicago.
	Puff the Magic Dragon – surely the world’s best-known dragon song – is from Peter, Paul, and Mary’s Peter, Paul, and Mommy album (Warner Brothers), available on audio CD.

DRAGONS IN THE MOVIES, DRAGONS ON TV

	Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real, narrated by Patrick Stewart, is a fascinating look at how dragons might have lived and how they might have evolved, with incredible computer-graphic imagery (from the company that created Walking With Dinosaurs).
	In the BBC series Merlin, the key Arthurian characters are all teenagers and Camelot is under the thumb of the despotic Uther Pendragon, who has banned magic from the realm and imprisoned the Great Dragon, Kilgarrah (voiced by John Hurt). The young wizard Merlin, sent to Camelot to study with Gaius, the court physician, is mentored by the dragon, who tells him that his destiny is to protect Arthur, the future king. Many exciting episodes. Available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
	In the 1977 Disney movie Pete’s Dragon, nine-year-old orphan Pete has run away from his awful guardians in company with Elliott, a huge (invisible) green cartoon dragon. They end up in Passamaquody, Maine, where Pete is taken in by Nora (Helen Reddy) and her father Lampie (Mickey Rooney), the lighthouse keepers. Then a nefarious snake-oil salesman arrives in town, determined to capture the dragon and use him for making medicine. All ends happily, with Elliott a hero and Pete settled in a good home. And there’s some great music. Rated G.
	In the 2016 version of Pete’s Dragon, Pete – orphaned after a car wreck – has been living in the forest for six years. With a friendly dragon. Then he’s discovered by a forest ranger. Rated PG.
	In the film Dragonheart (1996), Draco, the last of the dragons (voiced by Sean Connery), and Bowen, a disillusioned dragon slayer, join forces and inspire the people to overthrow their evil king, Einon. Rated PG-13 for violence.