Customer Reviews

The Knight and the Dragon

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is one of my favorite children's books. A knight and a dragon, both perfectly content on their own, realize that they are not living up to society's expectations of them and begin preparing for THE FIGHT. They're terrible at it, though, and fare much better as restauranteurs. What a great lesson, and what a great way to tell it. The book itself contains very few words, but lots of diPaola's detailed, engaging pictures, making it appropriate for a variety of ages. We've read this to our two-year old, discussing how fighting isn't very helpful. I imagine we'll be reading it to her when she's four or six, discussing how you shouldn't do things you don't like just because others say you should. An added bonus is that the princess, who is never mentioned in the text, provides the solution for "the boys", who initially appear to be the main characters in the story. It's a neat twist on a classic theme.

My almost-4-year-old son loves this book. He's interested in knights and fighting, like many little boys. We laugh and laugh at the silly things that happen to the knight and dragon as they try to fight and fail. As a parent I appreciate a book that doesn't glorify fighting, but still acknowledges that children are facinated by the knights of old who fought with swords and lances, and plays with that interest. Don't look for lectures on fighting, or serious displays of sword technique. This one is just for giggles.

I found this book as an insert in a book on how to compete effectively in business. It offers, in an easy to follow and very enjoyable way, some original thinking on how to turn traditional competition into cooperative endeavors. A must for parents who want to teach children ways to consider alternatives to fighting. The drawings are also charming.

This funny lighthearted book encourages kids to discard traditional rivalries and consider creative opportunities for cooperation. Let your child interpret the amusing illustrations and open the door to two-way discussions of these issues.

Despite the book is written in English,I've been using it in Central America for Spanish language young readers. My children love the book, because of its message of solidarity and friendship. We enjoy Sr. De Paola's books, but we still prefer this one. Enrique G.Dubon

In the Knight and the Dragon, the knight practices with a wooden dragon and the dragon practices with dummies. At first they're not good at it. The knight misses the wooden dragon and runs into a tree, and the dragon misses the dummies. But the next time the knight kills the wooden dragon and the dragon gets a hundred of the dummies. They give each other invitations and set a time for the fight...

I liked this book. I'm six years old. I know you don't know why I like it, but I'll tell you. I like it because at the end the librarian gives them books to make a barbecue!

The interesting thing about this book is that its plot is resolved by a drawing instead of words. In fact, towards the end, the book seems to do away with words altogether and shows everything that happens with pictures only. Hardcore writers may not approve of this method. A princess appears out of nowhere to give both the dragon and the knight helpful books, and that's how the story ends.

I liked the colored-pencil-esque drawings, especially of the dragon making evil faces in the mirror. Gave me a laugh or two.

When I think of the hundreds of times, my sweet little boy insisted on reading this book, I am transported back to the happy cuddly times when he would sit on my lap and he would pour over the pictures of the knight making all this weapons and the dragon getting in shape for the fight that everyone expected them to fight. The sweet pictures, the humor and wisdom of the end was always a happy and satisfying tale to be enjoyed. Do not miss the art, the story and the "moral" of this timeless of what happens when mortal enemies discover that they don't have to be mortal enemies and can become friends in the funniest way.
Bravo Tomie dePaola! A masterpiece in children's literature.

I am a speech-language pathologist and I like to use wordless (or almost wordless) books with my preschoolers sometimes to practice their speech sounds in a conversational context, as well as informally assess their sentence structure and story telling skills.

I first want to say that I love Tomie dePaola's books. His illustrations have a uniqueness about them where they show the story with a couple of extra details, but not so many details that the page is overwhelming and difficult for preschoolers to understand. His books use great vocabulary and story structure to them, with and without words.

This book is an almost wordless picture book. It is about a knight and a dragon. Each character has never fought the other before and decide that it's time to do so. However, before they fight, they must learn how to fight. Each finds a book and reads about how to do their respective parts. The knight reads about making armor and gets all of his gear ready. The dragon reads about swishing his tail and practicing looking fierce. Then they practice on dummies. When they are ready to fight, the line up, charge, and miss! In the end, they don't fight at all, but read new books about making and cooking a bar-b-q.

My students love this book! They love that it has a dragon and a fight! (except there isn't a fight in the end). I love that it introduces them to vocabulary like knight, shield, armor, helmet, lance, sword, castle, cave, and more! Great preschool book!

We got this book out of the library, and my 18 month old daughter cannot get enough. We read it to her three times a day, two or three times in a row. So I've read a lot of "The Knight and the Dragon" recently.

I like it.

Like "Pancakes for Breakfast," this is a book about trying to do something that you read about in a book and being alternately proud and frustrated by the task. It breaks down the problem of fighting dragons into steps (as well as the problem of fighting knights) and shows the heroes practicing, practicing, practicing. When setbacks happen, our heroes overcome either through persistence or creativity.

The simple pictures give my daughter the most pleasure, I think, but she enjoys the story, too. She especially likes it when the knight and dragon both fall down. And she likes to point out the librarian character.