Customer Reviews

Dragonbreath, Book 1

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Dragonbreath" is an amusing story that combines witty text and wonderful artwork in the same style that Ursula Vernon employs in her "Digger" series. From predatory potato salad ("A school of potato salad can skeletonize a cow in under two weeks, assuming that the cow doesn't get bored and move...") to burly mermen from Atlantis and vain luminescent deep sea creatures ("Hey! DO I come up to the surface and make fun of your looks?"), this book presents a host of very likeable, bizarre characters. The two main characters, Danny and Wendell, find themselves in enough trouble to keep the story moving along nicely. My nine-year-old and I give it five stars, and we look forward to the next story in the series.

Ursula Vernon is a favorite, so I had this ordered on pre-order and knew I'd enjoy it. But once it arrived, I was completely smitten by the snorklebats and vicious rogue potato salad.

A delightful story for kids and adults who are still kids at heart. And it's even a wee-bit educational.

Since I have a nine-year old daughter, I'm always anxious to see what's new in Middle Grade books. The latest book that I've read is DRAGONBREATH written and illustrated by Ursula Vernon. I'm not sure that I'm the best judge of middle-grade books because they aren't really geared towards me, but I have to say that I really liked DRAGONBREATH. I thought the characters were cute, the story was interesting, and the book was really funny -- I think it's just perfect for middle grade readers!

What I really liked about this book was that it was a mix of a comic book and a regular old book. I think the comic panels are very well done, and kids are going to really like switching between the pictures and the normal text. I thought the drawings definitely enhanced the fantasy aspect of the story, and I loved the pictures of the characters on their under-sea adventure. Even the most reluctant of readers should appreciate this story given that it has many comic panels and fairly large text.

I found DRAGONBREATH to be a very cute and entertaining story, yet it also had parts that were actually educational. I think kids will not only laugh a lot at this story and the characters (namely Wendell whom I found to be just adorable), but they will also love the bits of science that are thrown in. I especially enjoyed reading about Danny and Wendell's tour of the ocean and also learning about the various sea creatures. I also liked that the author included some positive messages about bullying, self-confidence, and perseverence.

DRAGONBREATH is the first book in a series, and I wouldn't hesitate to read more stories about Danny and his crazy adventures. I think that these books are going to be a big hit with young boys, especially those around 8 to 10 years old; however, I also think there are plenty of girls who are going to love these characters too. I really liked that the end of this book gave a few teasers about the next book in the series, namely that there will be ninja frogs. And what kid can resist an adventure with a dragon and iguana that includes ninja frogs?

Here are some of Booking Daughter's thoughts about DRAGONBREATH:

I really liked the parts of the book that took place underwater. Some things really made me laugh like when the characters took "breath" mints so they could breathe underwater and when they kept running into scary sea creatures. I thought Danny's friend Wendell was really funny especially when he was underwater because he was always nervous.

When one follows Ursula Vernon's art and quirky storytelling sensibilities for as long as I have, one knows what to expect from her work. A respectful knowledge of nature's actual workings mixed seamlessly with the absurdities of her imagination, practical and pragmatic characters coping with singularly surreal situations, and small cute critters overcoming monstrous and weird obstacles. That having been said, there's always SOMETHING in her stories that catches me off guard and stands out in my mind, and in this case, that something is called a Snorkelbat. I won't spoil the surprise, but let me just say that page 23 ALONE was worth the purchase price.

I honestly can't imagine anyone who couldn't get something out of this book. It's stylish, humorous, witty, incredibly inventive, and even a little educational (Snorkelbats notwithstanding...sorry, I still can't quite get over them). If you're a fan of Vernon, this will be just one more reason to love her. If you're not, this will convert you.

I can't wait for the sequel!

I bought this title to read with my 8 year old daughter. She is more than capable of reading it herself, but I thought it would be something nice to share (father to daughter). Although she was a little apprehensive at first, she love the story, and the characters. This is definitely one of her top 5 books now, and I have a feelign we'll be reading it together again soon!

My title says it all - kids will love the Dragonbreath books, and their parents can love them, too. These are some of those rare books that, when your child asks you to read them aloud for the umpteenth time you'll say, "Okay!" We've known and loved Ursula's work for years and when we heard she was writing a childrens book series we were thrilled. Her written flights of fancy on her LiveJournal narrating her art are some of the funniest things I've ever read - I knew a kids book would be fabulous. I was not disappointed :)

I must stop a moment before I go on about the *books* and talk about Ursula's art (all illustrations in the book are her own). Her art is the essence of whimsy and hyperbole with a big dash of the slightly twisted. Her paintings run the gamut from cute and fuzzy to laugh-till-you-cry funny, to OMG I don't want to hang that on my wall! But all of her art embraces the absurdity of life, of anatomy, of nature's little jokes at every species's expense and at the misguided idea that we're ever in control of anything. The art in Dragonbreath follows her style with an added dose of hilarity. The expressiveness of the simply drawn animals manages to be both human and completely reptile. The anthropomorphizing of, well, everything cracks you up because yes of course, that's exactly what potato salad would look like if it aged so long in the school cafeteria that it evolved into sentient (and evil) life.

Our Brave Hero, Danny Dragonbreath, has an outlook on life that any child can relate to. Fanciful, whimsical, a tad bit jaded about adult expectations and utterly inventive. A fantasy life almost more real than reality is a concept that speaks to any child, and my kids loved it. This was the first chapter book that my youngest read entirely...and he read it cover to cover in one day. Took him all day! Then his pre-teen older brother sneaked away with it, zipped through it, and declared it awesome. In between times, I was picking up Dragonbreath whenever it wasn't actually in someone's hot little hands and reading it as fast as I could.

The whimsy that works for kids is just as appealing for adults, but there is also a wonderful dry irony that runs as an undercurrent through the Dragonbreath books. Ursula has not written talk-down-to-them lobotomized childrens books. She's written books from the point of view of a child and at a reading level a child can enjoy but with the writing sensibilities and sophisticated perceptiveness of an adult. Not too many authors can do that these days :)

Blame "Babymouse". Why not? "Babymouse", for those of you unfamiliar with the series, is the hot pink infused graphic novel sensation that has boys and girls alike wrapped tightly up in the time and trials of a little mouse with messy whiskers and a weakness for a good cupcake. No one anticipated the massive success of the series, and since its creation there have been multiple attempts to topple it from its throne. Terms like "it's the new Babymouse" have been many, but until now no comic booky-like creation has successfully come up with its own particular brand of humor and thick black-lined drawings. Until now! To be fair "Dragonbreath", the first in a new series, is its own beast entirely. With a shape and size (and restrained color palette) similar to Babymouse, author/illustrator Ursula Vernon has come up with her own unique storytelling style. I dislike calling anything the "new" this and the "new" that, but if you want something to supplement the reading of your "Babymouse" fans who like funny urbane graphic fiction, seek thee no further, traveler. Here be dragons.

You would think that as a dragon Danny would have it easy at school. You would have it wrong. Sure, he's the only dragon amongst a bunch of other reptiles, but can he breathe fire yet? Not hardly. So is it any wonder that he gets picked on by the local bullies all the time? At least he has his best friend Wendell, an iguana with a penchant for a smart retort. When Danny cooks up a plan to write a report on oceans by visiting his cousin Edward (a sea serpent) Wendell comes along and the two find themselves in deep water. Literally. Figuratively. Told with text with pictures for spice (ala "Captain Underpants") consider this a reluctant reader pick, and a visual stimulant.

It's important for the creator of any book to believe in the world they've conjured up. Artist Ursula Vernon has done just that. In this book she has clearly considered all the logistics down when it comes to creating a school for reptiles. The playground would be equipped with large rocks "for sitting and sunning oneself." The bully would, of course, be a Komodo dragon (with a salamander and a chameleon for his flunkies). Of course, in terms of scale, Vernon does tend to break out the creativity. Dragons, apparently, are comparable in size (at least when young) to salamanders and lizards. Komodo dragons, for that matter, are significantly larger (though not as big as they would be in real life). For about a page and a half your brain says "squee?" and tries to figure this out. Then you tell your brain to take it easy and enjoy the book, and it forgets all about scale and size from that point onward. And there has been some mention of the fact that the school sections don't always drive the plot forward, but I would argue that each section of the book adds to the overall storyline.

The text is a nice mixing and melding of kid and adult humor. Vernon can write a sentence like, "This idea was met with the contempt it deserved," and not turn off young readers in the process. You will find this book infused with an exceptionally dry wit. There are plenty of phrases in this book that I've never seen grace the pages of children's literature before. Wendell covered in sea cucumber spit-up utters a remorseful "I feel violated". I also tend to feel favorably towards any book that can work in good 10-point vocabulary words casually as part of the text. And it doesn't get much better than sentences like, "It was the exact sound that a a young Komodo dragon might make when he had just been stabbed in the hand with a plastic fork by a plate of recalcitrant potato salad." My guess as to the number of children's books tossing about the term "recalcitrant"? Low. Very low.

Some people will tell you that kids these days refuse to read anything purely black and white. Others will point out the ever-present popularity of comic strips and scoff. I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Children, for all that we talk down to them, can be discerning consumers. If a graphic novel is drawn in such a way that color would aid in the reading of it, kids pick up on that. "Dragonbreath", as it happens, is limited to a color palette of one. Green. Lots o' pretty green. You get a touch of yellow and blue on the cover, but don't let them fool you. Green's as good as it gets. Which, considering that this is a seaside tale that takes a turn for ocean depths, is fine. I was kind of hoping for a second color to appear during the big exciting climax, but no go. Perhaps future episodes will introduce new colors for the upcoming adventures in the series.

I considered for a moment the possibility that "Dragonbreath" would read aloud well to kids. After all, there's more text than anything else. Still, the full-page illustrated spreads do not always align perfectly with where the text is at any given time. Also, these pictures would be difficult to see in a classroom setting. Nope. "Dragonbreath" is clearly the one-on-one type. Fortunately it's also equally funny to adults and kids which will make bedtime reading fun for everyone. Don't let them pawn this off on you as a lesser "Babymouse" then. "Dragonbreath" is its own beast entirely, and once a kid has read it they'll be mightily inclined to read a couple more. Particularly if future volumes really do involve ninja frogs.

This book is awesome, its really funny. its about a dragon named Danny who cant breathe fire. but he is not scared of anything, unlike Wendell, his nerdy friend, who is scared of everything. this book is about Danny getting an F n his paper about the ocean. Wendell comes too, even he is not very happy about it.
Danny goes to the Sargasso Sea,which is supposedly in the mittle of the ocean. They take a bus there, not a boat,a bus. Wendell cant belive how they got there in 10 minutes and Danny is all like "Well you have never seen a dragon till you met me so the bus isnt thet amazing" not exact quote but you get it. well, anyway they go to the Sargasso Sea and find Danny's cousin, Edward the sea serpent. Edward gives them breath mints so they can breathe underwater.then they explore the ocean and learn things so Danny wont get an F on his paper. they get attacked by a shark, and a giant squid (as seen on cover). Whike they are doing that, Wendell is always freeking out and complaining. it really makes the book funny.
If you like comidy and like this first book, i reccomend the whole series.

Great book for my son, caught his interest and now he is up to volume 5 and looking forward to the next book coming out in January.

I really got a kick out of this book. It's half graphic novel, half chapter book format. It features different creatures, including our main character who is a dragon. Only, he's having some problems learning how to breathe fire. When him and his best friend take a tour of the ocean with his cousin, a sea-serpent, he manages to almost breathe fire - only he's underwater.. so it sizzles out right away. The water is full of fascinating and frightening creatures, but will Danny survive to write his report on the ocean?