Customer Reviews

Raising Dragons

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

 

 

I don't know who enjoys Hank more, me or my boy. For me, the best part about the story is its voice. It kind of stretches out on the front porch and watches the fireflies as it ambles through the tale. My boy loves listening to how Hank pops the cornfield. We both love the fondness between Hank and his girl and, with each page, my young one cuddles up closer to me. It's sweetness and goodness and everything warm. I've bought many copies and given them to my family. Now we all know a little something 'bout raisin' dragons. My thanks to Jerdine Nolen and Elise Primavera.

It's hard to top the pros reviews of "Raising Dragons", and there's little else I can add other than to simply say get the book for your children... NOW.

The amazingly detailed and vibrant oils and exuberant facial expressions of the main character will draw even the most "grumpafied" (to borrow my daughter's term) and stodgy readers (both young and old) right into the pages. The cover art of Hank the dragon being spoonfed some bright yellow...SOMETHING, is worth the price of the book itself. But don't stop at the cover! Be ye warned, however, "Dragons" is habit forming: if the KIDS don't want you to read it again and again and again, YOU will want to do so!!

We borrowed this book from the library because my 4-year-old son is interested in dragons. The very first time we read it, he asked me to read it again 5 times!!! He loves books, but has never asked that many times!
The illustrations are bright, colorful and lovely. The family is believable and hard-working, and the little girl teaches kids to believe in themselves and their passions. The story is loving, fun and sweet as can be. I love the voice the author uses too. Sort of a "southern country farmer" voice.
We are buying this book for our permanent collection. I see years of happy reading of this book!

I bought this book for my two year old daughter even though she is way too young for it. Once I read it I had to have it for when she is older. The story is wonderful. A little girl discover her talent is raising Dragons. I love the part where the dragon turns the corn field into popcorn with his fire breath. We have a folkmanis dragon puppet that I intend to usein conjuction with this book when I will read it to my daughter in the future. Be warned that the family in this book uses a type of colloquel speech that is not proper English. If the little girl was ever in an English class she would flunk (example "t'aint rocks, Mother".) If you are looking for a grammer lesson you might want to choose another book. If you are looking for a delightful fantasy that encourages your child's imagination then you have found it.

Dragons, dragon lore, dragon stories and dragon pictures are certainly at the top of their popularity with the younger set these days. (Actually, I am as old as dirt, and I rather like them myself.) You really cannot have too many dragon books around at this time and I must say that "Raising Dragons" by Jerdine Nolen and illustrated by Elise Primauera should certainly be on your dragon book shelf.

This is a unique look at dragons and is one of the nicest and most mellow reads on the subject I have come across.

A small African-American girl lives with her family on a farm somewhere in the South. These are hard working practical people and quite good at their farming, but our little , a curious little thing, finds this strange rock-like thing and against her practical fathers warnings, starts to care for it. Of course it is a dragon egg and soon our little girl finds herself in possession of a dragon. Her family, a very practical lot, rather frown on such frivolous things as non-working dragons and are at first, not overly enthusiastic.

What to do? What can you do with a dragon? Well, you can train it. And that is just what the little child does. She actually trains her flying, fire-breathing and large critter to be quite helpful.

Her father finds that the dragon is performing many of his chores around the farm from plowing to planting and harvesting and mom finds the dragon quite useful too. She goes so far as to fix he dragon his favorite meals; ell potpies, frog-leg pudding and fish-and-insect pudding.

Well, the dragon becomes quite famous in the area and due to far too many visitors it is decided to take him to an enchanted magical island where dragons live.

No spoilers here, but when the little girl returns from her trip to the dragon's home she brings back....

The author has used an easy Southern Country accent to tell the story which simply flows and fits the mood perfectly. When you read this to children, the reading is greatly enhanced if you have a natural southern accent or country drawl. I do, so this work fit me perfectly. The illustrator has used very bold colors that attract the eye. Both author and illustrator are extremely skilled in their craft and their work fits perfectly.

Dragon lovers both young and old will love this one.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I was assigned to read 10 childrens books and Rasing Dragons was my favorite. I loved the artwork a lot! Elise Primavera does great work with creative pictures! Jerdine Nolen also used a lot of imagination! The story is about a little girl who finds a dragon egg and waits until it hatches. She raises the dragon from a little baby to when it is an adult. The story takes an interesting twist when they find an island of dragons. I found nothing that needed to be better in this book. This book is nothing like real life it is all a fantasy. I think thats why I liked it so much. Over all this book was great!!!!!!

This is a thoughtful story about how a little girl (judging from the pictures, I'd place her age at 6 or so, but her actions in the book seem to put her closer to 8 or 9 - even considering that fantasy characters get a lot more freedom than real kids!) learned that raising dragons was "in her blood".

There isn't any tragedy in this book. The unnamed girl (closest we get to a name is "Cupcake", but that's probably not intended to be her real name) talks about the great things her dragon does, but there's nothing to scare or upset the little ones. The worst thing that happens is that her dragon becomes popular, so she decides to bring him home - and even then, it's clear he comes back to visit.

It's a really good book. Very vivid, colorful illustrations, realistic dialog, and a charming story.

There are a few things you might want to take note of.

The narrator doesn't speak Standard American English, but instead uses a nonstandard dialect. I think of this as a good thing, but some people do find that a problem, so I thought I'd make that clear.

Also, the whole story does start when the girl deliberately disobeys her parents, it says so explicitly, and there don't seem to be any consequences for that. I don't have a problem with this, but I know some people might.

It should additionally be noted that this is a very long, very wordy book. The cover on my edition suggests that it's for children over the age of six, and I agree. This is not a picture book well suited for toddlers or for children with a very low attention span.

The sweetest relationship between a girl and her dragon that has ever been described. An amazing combination of story and illustration. And it involves a combination of fantasy and rural life that is amazingly rare in children's books. Love it! Love it! Love it!

This great new book has great prose, wildly colorful and imaginative illustrations and a loving story that hovers between fantasy and reality. My 4-year old twins are enchanted!

A fun book for children and adults. The illustrations are lovely and the kids will love the hilarious story of a young farm girl who raises dragons.