Dragons

In The Dragon of Lonely Island (Candlewick, 1998), three children – Hannah, Zachary, and Sarah Emily – spend the summer on Lonely Island off the coast of Maine where, with the help of a mysterious map, they discover a wonderful golden three-headed dragon. The dragon tells them three magical tales from its past – one set in ancient China, one about a boy on board a pirate ship, and the last about two children who must survive on a desert island after a plane crash. For ages 6-11.

In a sequel, Return of the Dragon (Candlewick, 2005), the children return to the island where, through the dragon’s stories, they visit ancient Greece, a castle in the Middle Ages, and a southern plantation in the days before the Civil War, learning lessons along the way. They also solve a mystery and struggle to protect the dragon from a terrible danger. For ages 6-11.

By Adam Rubin, Dragons Love Tacos (Dial, 2012) is a giggle-provoking picture book about taco-loving dragons. Just don’t feed them spicy salsa. For ages 2-5. 

Julie Leung’s award-winning The Truth About Dragons (Henry Holt, 2023) is a lovely lyrical picture book in which a small boy, listening to a bedtime story, is sent on a magical quest to learn the truth about dragons. He travels through two different forests and learns about the very different Western and Eastern dragons. For ages 3-6. 

Listen to it read aloud at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV01sve_gXc 

An empowering tale about a dragon and a kick-ass competent princess. In Robert Munsch’s The Paper Bag Princess, Princess Elizabeth is about to marry Prince Ronald, when a fire-breathing dragon swoops in, kidnaps the prince and torches the castle (including all of Elizabeth’s clothes). Undaunted, Elizabeth puts on a paper bag, pursues the dragon, and rescues Ronald – only to have the ungrateful prince make fun of her appearance. Elizabeth chucked him and set off to live happily ever after. For ages 3-8. 

Jackie Morris’s Tell Me a Dragon (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2009) is an exquisitely illustrated collection of dragons, from the huge to the tiny: “My dragon is made from the sun and the stars.” “My dragon is snaggle-toothed, fierce and brave.” (On the cover, a glorious lavender dragon plucks a cupcake from a platter.) The book ends with “Tell me about your dragon.” For ages 4 and up.

In Tomie de Paola’s The Knight and the Dragon (Putnam Publishing Group, 1980), both knight and dragon realize that they’re supposed to fight – but neither knows how to go about it. They do their best to find out (the knight resorts to the castle library; the dragon delves through his ancestor’s artifacts) – but with the help of a canny princess, they eventually realize that they’re better off just being themselves. For ages 4-8.

In Timothy Knapman’s Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood (Bloomsbury USA, 2007), an excited young dragon finds a Benjamin – a goggle-eyed little boy in striped boots – in the woods and brings him home to keep as a pet. For ages 4-8.

In Demi’s exquisitely illustrated Liang and the Magic Paintbrush (Henry Holt, 1988), everything that Liang paints with his magical paintbrush comes alive. When confronted with an evil emperor, Liang paints a dragon. For ages 4-8.

In Jay Williams’s lovely picture book Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like (Aladdin, 1980), it turns out that everyone doesn’t. Only the little orphan boy Han believes that a dragon could look like a little fat old man. For ages 4-8.

In M.P. Robertson’s The Egg (Puffin, 2004), George discovers an enormous golden-brown egg in the family henhouse from which hatches a baby dragon. Even though George doesn’t speak Dragon, he manages to “teach the dragon dragony ways,” and help it find its way home. The illustrations are wonderful: one painting shows the armchair-sized egg perched on George’s quilt-covered bed, while George sits on top of it, reading. For ages 4-8.

George’s dragon returns for another adventure in The Great Dragon Rescue (Frances Lincoln Books, 2009). 

Christoph Niemann’s The Pet Dragon (Greenwillow Books, 2008) is a clever introduction to Chinese characters through the story of a little girl, Lin, who receives a little red dragon as a present. The characters are integrated into the pictures, which works as a memory aid. For ages 4-8.

In Carmen Agra Deedy’s The Library Dragon (Peachtree Publishers, 1994), Sunrise Elementary School’s new librarian is a dragon – who refuses to let children (with their sticky little fingers) near the library books. Nothing will convince her otherwise, until a myopic little girl wanders into the library and begins reading a story about a dragon out loud. Children gather to listen and the library dragon has a change of heart. For ages 4-8.

Mi Fei, a humble scroll painter, is the hero of Marguerite W. Davol’s The Paper Dragon (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1997). When the terrible dragon Sui Jen awakes from his long sleep and begins trampling rice fields and destroying villages, Mi Fei goes out to stop him. The dragon strikes a bargain, challenging Mi Fei to bring him fire, wind, and the strongest thing in the world – all wrapped in paper. Mi Fei responds with a paper lantern, a paper fan, and a paper painting of all the people in his village – since the strongest thing in the world is love. Naturally he saves the day. Illustrated with lovely tissue-paper collages by Robert Sabuda. For ages 4-9.

By Tracey West, the Dragon Masters books (Scholastic) are a series of early chapter books for beginning readers. In Book One, Rise of the Earth Dragon, young Drake – age 8 – is nabbed by the king’s soldier and taken to the castle to be trained as a Dragon Master. In company with three other young trainees, he must learn how to bond with and train his dragon – and must discover his dragon’s special power. Great magical reads (with dragons) for ages 5-8. 

Gorgeous gold, red, and purple Chinese dragons fill Demi’s The Boy Who Painted Dragons (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2007). The painter, young Ping, is visited by the Heavenly Dragon, who discovers that the painted dragons really represent Ping’s fears. He gives the boy three pearls of wisdom, which he can only earn by confronting four dragons: Water Dragon, Fire Dragon, Earth Dragon, and Wind Dragon. For ages 5-9.

Caldecott winner David Wiesner’s The Loathsome Dragon (Clarion Books, 2005) is a retelling of a traditional English fairytale in which a widowed king falls in love with a wicked enchantress, who – jealous – turns his lovely daughter, the Princess Margaret, into a terrible dragon. Margaret’s brother Richard eventually manages to reverse the spell and – with the help of a magic rowan twig – the enchantress is turned into a Loathsome Toad. For ages 5-9.

In Ruth Stiles Gannett’s My Father’s Dragon (Alfred A. Knopf, 1988) (a Newbery Award winner from 1948), the animals of Wild Island have captured a baby dragon and young Elmer Elevator, with a knapsack full of lollipops and hair ribbons, sets off to rescue it. Sequels are Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland. For ages 5-10.

Kate McMullen’s Dragon Slayers’ Academy series begins with The New Kid at School (Grosset & Dunlap, 2003) in which carroty-headed Wiglaf, the smallest and most put-upon of an enormous peasant family, has his fortune told by a traveling minstrel and finds that he is destined to be a hero. Off he goes with his pet pig Daisy to the Dragon Slayers’ Academy to learn his future trade – despite the fact that he can’t stand the sight of blood. Many sequels, all with the same slapsticky humor. For ages 6-10.

Josh Lacey’s Dragonsitter series begins with The Dragonsitter (Dial, 2016) in which Eddie’s Uncle Morton has left his pet dragon with Eddie while he leaves on vacation. This short chapter-book series is told entirely in emails. (Eddie writes: “Dear Uncle Morton, You’d better get on a plane right now and come back here. Your dragon has eaten Jemima. Emily loved that rabbit!”) For ages 6-10. 

The Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland is set on a planet inhabited by tribes of intelligent dragons – most with unique abilities adapted to their special habitats. Book One, The Dragonet Prophecy (Scholastic, 2023), centers around five young dragonets – the MudWing Clay, the SeaWing Tsunami, the RainWing Glory, the NightWing Starflight, and the SandWing Sunny – all raised in hiding until time to fulfill their destiny and end the ongoing dragon war. If your kids like this one, there are many more. For ages 8-12. 

Edith Nesbit’s The Book of Dragons (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2010), originally published in 1900, is a wonderful collection of eight dragon tales, among them “The Book of Beasts,” “The Deliverers of Their Country,” and “Uncle James, or the Purple Stranger.” For ages 8-12.

In Sarah L. Thomson’s Dragon’s Egg (Greenwillow Books, 2007), young Mella is a dragonkeeper – but the dragons she tends are small friendly farm animals, not the fire-breathing monsters of the old myths. Then Mella comes upon a dragon’s egg in the forest, guarded by a truly terrifying dragon – and with the help of Roger, a squire to a Knight of the Order of Defenders, sets out to transport it safely to the ancestral Hatching Grounds. For ages 8-12.

Cornelia Funke’s Dragon Rider (Chicken House, 2011) features an orphan boy, a feisty brownie, a brave young dragon, and a quest to return the dragons to their ancestral home - in the teeth of multitudinous enemies, among them the vicious dragon-exterminating Nettlebrand. For ages 8-12.

Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2010) is the first of a humorous series starring the hapless young Viking Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III who – as a warrior-in-training – must (somehow) capture and train a dragon. Many sequels. For ages 8-12.

The 2010 movie version of How to Train Your Dragon is rated PG. Also see How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019).

Dragonology by Ernest Drake and Duglad Steer (Candlewick, 2003) is a purported nonfiction guide to dragons by 19^th-century “dragonologist” Ernest Drake. Included are explanations of the taxonomy and anatomy of dragons (with diagrams), a dragon alphabet, instructions for tracking and taming dragons, and a fold-out map of “Dragons of the World.” For ages 8 and up.

Jane Yolen’s Here There Be Dragons (Harcourt Childrens Books, 1993) is a collection of poems and stories about dragons from a range of genres for ages 9 and up. Also see Yolen’s Here There Be Witches and Here There Be Unicorns.  

In Bruce Coville’s Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (Sandpiper, 2007), Jeremy stumbles into a mysterious shop and comes home with an egg from which hatches a tiny dragon, Tiamat, visible only to Jeremy and his nemesis, Mary Lou Hutton. With the help of Tiamat, Jeremy gains confidence and perspective – which survive even after Tiamat returns to her own world, where she belongs. For ages 9-12.

Patricia Wrede’s four-book Enchanted Forest Chronicles series begins with Dealing with Dragons (Sandpiper, 2002), in which the strong-minded Princess Cimorene, who prefers fencing to embroidery, deals with wizards, witches, and an enchanted stone prince, and finally ends up as Chief Cook and Librarian to Kazul, the (female) King of the Dragons. Sequels are Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons. For ages 9-12.

In Susan Fletcher’s Dragon’s Milk (Aladdin, 1996), Kaeldra’s little sister is dying of vermilion fever, for which the only cure is dragon’s milk. Kaeldra sets out to find some and ends up saving a litter of draclings. Sequels are Flight of the Dragon Kyn and The Sign of the Dove. For ages 9-12.

In Jessica Day George’s Dragon Slippers (Bloomsbury USA, 2008), Creel’s aunt – she’s not evil, just “dumber than two turnips in a rain barrel” – sends Creel to the dragon in hopes that a wealthy knight will rescue and marry her. Instead Creel makes friends with the dragon, who gives her a strange pair of blue shoes. Wearing them, she travels to the city to work as a seamstress – Creel is a talented embroiderer – where the plot thickens and Creel’s slippers turn out to hold the key to saving both the kingdom and its resident dragons. Sequels are Dragon Flight and Dragon Spear. For ages 10 and up.

Dragon Slippers has a pattern and tutorial for making your own dragon slippers.

In Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef (Simon & Schuster, 2024), Marjan’s father has been killed so Marjan has been left with his faltering veterinary practice. Then she discovers that her father was no ordinary vet; he treated magical creatures such as griffins, unicorns, and dragons. An exciting read for ages 10 and up. 

In Heywood Broun’s The Fifty-First Dragon, originally published in 1919, Gawaine le Coeur-Hardy – one of the least promising pupils at knight school – is given a magic word that allows him to kill fifty dragons. Then he discovers that the magic word is a fake. It all makes for some great discussions. For ages 11 and up.

Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series began in 1968 with Dragonflight, and now comprises some 22 volumes, and any number of Pern-related supplements. The planet of Pern, every 200 years, is endangered by the fall of Thread, silvery filaments that destroy everything they touch. To combat the Thread, a new breed of the native dragons has been developed – capable of burning the Thread out of the sky before it touches down and of bonding telepathically to a chosen human partner, the dragonrider. For ages 1s and up.

The setting of Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina (Ember, 2014) is a world where dragons and humans live (uneasily)side by side – and dragons can take human form. Then the crown prince is murdered, anti-dragon sentiment is on the rise, and musician Seraphina, half-human and half-dragon, is suddenly plunged into a central role. A wonderful, complex, and out-of-the-ordinary dragon tale for ages 12 and up.

Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon (Del Rey, 2006) is set during an alternative version of the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Will Lawrence of the King’s Navy captures a French ship carrying a dragon’s egg – and when the new hatchling imprints itself on him, he decides to join Britain’s fleet of dragon-borne aviators as master of the dragon Temeraire. First of a series for teens and adults.

In James A. Owen’s Here, There Be Dragons (Simon & Schuster, 2007), set during World War I, three Oxford scholars are brought together in London by a murder – and by a peculiar little man who tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of mythical lands, which can only be reached via the ship Indigo Dragon. And there are dragons. Fantasy, mystery, and danger for teens and adults

By Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons (Tor Books, 2014) purports to be a memoir by Victorian aristocrat Isabella, Lady Trent, the world’s foremost dragon naturalist. The first of a series for teens and adults.

In Terry Pratchett’s Guards! Guards! (HarperCollins, 2009), one of the wonderful, hilarious, (and enormous) Discworld series, a marauding dragon has appeared in Discworld’s greatest city and has managed to get itself crowned king. Now it wants gold and virgins.To the rescue: the stunningly incompetent Night Watch. For teens and adults.

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.

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.

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.

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: 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.

Make a flying paper-plate dragon.

Seven Dragons is a domino-like card game in which players compete to connect the seven panels representing their color-coded dragon (red, gold, green, blue, or black). The cards are illustrated with paintings by fantasy artist Larry Elmore. For 2-5 players ages 6 and up.

Best for beginners is the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set.

From the American Museum of Natural History, take the Mythic Creatures Challenge at https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/anthropology/mythic-creatures-challenge. (Find out about dragons and more!)

With David Kawami’s Cut & Assemble Paper Dragons That Fly (Dover Publications, 1987), plus scissors, paper clips, glue, and a straight edge, kids can made eight colorful (flying) paper dragon models. $6.95.

Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Animals (Little, Brown, 2006) uses step-by-step instructions and a library of simple shapes to show kids how to draw dozens of animals, among them a wonderful dragon. For ages 7 and up.

Sandra Staples’s 160-page Drawing Dragons (“Learn to Create Fantastic Fire-Breathing Dragons!” (Ulysses Press, 2008) has detailed instructions for making pencil drawings of truly wonderful (and elaborate) dragons. For ages 10 and up.

Build a 3-D Chinese dragon from a Woodcraft construction kit. The dragon, assembled, is about a foot long, and consists of 62 interlocking pieces. All the pieces are pre-cut; no glue or tools needed.

Pamela Valdez’s Joan Proctor, Dragon Doctor (Knopf, 2018) is a picture-book biography of the famous herpetologist, Curator of Reptiles at the British Museum, who brought her pet Komodo dragon to tea parties. For ages 4-8.

Marty Crump’s Mysteries of the Komodo Dragon (Boyds Mills Press, 2010) is a fascinating 40-page account of the world’s largest lizard, the ten-foot-long Indonesian Komodo dragon, whose deadly saliva (“dragon drool”) is a current subject of scientific research. Illustrated with maps and color photographs. For ages 8-13.

Sheila Cole’s The Dragon in the Cliffs (Backinprint, 2005) is a novel based on the life of fossil-hunter Mary Anning, who began her career with the discovery of an ichthyosaur skeleton in a cliff along the beach in 1811, when she was just 13. For ages 10 and up.

For more on Mary Anning and her many discoveries, plus a book list, see Mary Anning: How a Poor British Carpenter's Daughter Became the Greatest Fossil Hunter Ever Known.

David LaRochelle’s 100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli (Dial, 2023) is a hilarious counting adventure involving 100 dragons – who head off for any number of adventures (everything from surfing in Hawaii to being turned into a unicorn by a magician) until only one dragon is left. (Kids might even learn to spell broccoli.) A hoot for ages 3-6. 

In Cindy Neuschwander’s Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi (Charlesbridge Publishing, 1999), Sir Cumference gulps down a potion that turns him into a dragon and his son Radius must find the magic number (pi) to restore him to human shape. For ages 7-11.

Find out how to make a fractal dragon curve from folded paper.

Draco the Dragon has information on the constellation Draco, a list of the stars that make up Draco (including Thuban that, 5000 years ago, was the North Star), and helpful instructions for finding Draco in the night sky.

For more information and help on locating Draco and dozens of other constellations, a helpful book for beginners is H.A. Rey’s now-updated Find the Constellations (Houghton Mifflin, 2008), filled with accessible information and lots of clever kid-friendly diagrams.