  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 07/01/2016 PreS-Gr 2—An unruly dragon with a bad attitude stomps on flowers, scribbles in books, and snatches candy away from baby unicorns. The king recruits knights to deal with the problem, but they all fail miserably. In response, the dragon ramps up his nastiness and toilet papers the castle and pops birthday balloons. A clever boy, with superb fairy tale-writing skills, saves the day by luring the dragon with a trail of marshmallows and then captivating him with a story he can't resist. Funny details abound in Pizzoli's cartoon illustrations, from royal posters tagged with "Dragon Was Here" graffiti to the not so scary dragon trying to feign readerly disinterest by shuffling a deck of cards and surreptitiously peeking around a tree. The witty, conversational-style narration interjects timely comments ("HEY, WAIT…What about the reward?"). VERDICT In this laugh-out-loud picture book, the powers of storytelling triumphantly tame the beast.—Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada - Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2016 Even worse than a regular bully is a dragon bully, and this titular fellow is a textbook case: he spits on cupcakes (“Who does that?! Dragon, that’s who”), TPs the local castle, and even steals candy from baby unicorns (“Honestly, that’s terrible”). The fed-up king offers a reward to anyone who can reform the beast, and both stalwart knights and common townsfolk try and fail-until one young man creates a book about a brave dragon and slyly proceeds to read it aloud within earshot of the real dragon. The intrigued dragon eventually allows the boy, and the story, to tame him. The humorous, slightly tongue-in-cheek narration is enjoyable, and the lengthy litany of the dragon’s bad behavior is humorous. That behavior is also amusingly depicted in Pizzoli’s comically cartoonish illustrations; clever visual details add to the fun, and the mustard-colored dragon stays sassy instead of scary thanks to his big, poochy tummy, snaggle teeth, and rounded, Big Bird-like feet. Muted golds, greens, browns, and reds and the simple, stylized figures and landscapes evoke the retro classic feel of Jack Kent’s work while the thick, slightly smudgy black outlines suggest coloring book pages. Use this to introduce a discussion of the power of stories, share it as part of a dragon-themed storytime, or pair it with Sendak’s Pierre for a story session gleefully devoted to naughtiness. JH - Copyright 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Booklist - 07/01/2016 Dragons are expected to be terrible (they are dragons, after all), but this particular dragon is horribly, unbelievably terrible. Among his many transgressions: stealing candy from baby unicorns, TP-ing the castle, and burping in church. The exasperated king offers an award (TBD, probably something nice), but all of his fiercest knights are humiliated in their efforts to rid the kingdom of the beast. The villagers take it upon themselves to open up the dragon-eliminating opportunity to everybody, but, again, no luck. Finally one young boy gathers together all of his determination . . . and sits down to read, nice and loud. At first the dragon feigns indifference, but inevitably is drawn into the story, and soon becomes a model member of the audience. This is a delightful selection for story hour. The witty, cartoonlike illustrations bring additional humor, and the outlined drawings are easily visible. The message that reading conquers all comes through loud and clear, and the engaging presentation will tame all listeners, not just dragons. - Copyright 2016 Booklist. Loading...
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