Customer Reviews

One Dragon's Dream

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

 

 

This is a truly extraodinary book, quite odd, but wonderfully, compellingly interestingly so.

This is a counting book, but it is also an observation book and allows so many questions, it is really impressive. There are a couple of illustrations in the first two pages of a dragon going to bed, then the very simple text starts. It is one dragon's dream, each follwoing pages has animals involved in a strange (and very dreamlike!) court case against the dragon - but in each picture the number is repeatedly used. So In the Four Frogs picture there are four cards, four trees, four jettys, and so on. The children have a great time counting all the objects and figuring out what they are. We can spend hours on this book through the week.

The illustrations are very appealing and unusual - intriguing. This is one of hte books which you can easily read again and again with your children. Lovely.

the illustrations and story in this counting book are amazing. I highly recommend this book for your child. Each of the animals has such great personality. The illustrations have details that will keep you looking for all the new finds each time you read this.

"One Dragon's Dream" is the kind of children's counting book that is rife with a treasure trove of fabulous ideas and hidden, clever, jokes and riddles in the spectacular illustrations. Every child lucky enough to have a copy of "One Dragon's Dream" will experience countless hours of pleasure in sifting through each detailed full page, or two-page picture. The fantastic animals and ideas are just outrageous enough to be gripping and funny, with a friendly underbite of testy reality that makes it all so very believable. Don't waste time reading this review. Order a copy of "One Dragon's Dream" for every child in your life immediately plus one or maybe two for yourself. You won't regret it. The author has reportedly retired from writing and illustrating and works on a walnut farm in Australia. We can only hope that he will resume his creative efforts one happy day. Meantime, get "One Dragon's Dream" for every child you love immediately!

Spare prose contrasts with intricate, detailed, 2-page spreads of pen and watercolor illustrations. One gargoyle-ish dragon falls asleep, and dreams of 2 turkeys, 3 tigers, 4 frogs, 5 kangaroos, and so forth. But the pictures do not just show those particular animals; they include dozens of other things with the same count. Besides the three tigers, there are three trees, padlocks, snakes, ladybugs, coins, outhouses, needles, matches, nests, pears, ants, keys, gravestones, and a dozen more triads, each scattered around the illustration.

The higher the number, the more crowded and intricate the drawings become. When I first read this, I found the drawings simply confusing. Items are larger and smaller than you would expect, with Alice in Wonderland-type proportions. Shapes of flowers and trees are distorted; stairs, ladders and buildings twist and overlap, giving an odd dream-like sensation.

Later, I read the book with a 9-year-old and a 6-year-old, both of whom have been able to count for many years. They both found great delight in searching the pages to find 8 buttons or 9 nails. If you are reading this to a toddler, the illustrations may be too complex for counting purposes. But an older child will enjoy it as much as an I Spy (I Spy Treasure Hunt, I Spy Fantasy) or Where's Waldo? book.