17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Separate Peace, April 27, 2005
The original "St. George and the Dragon" story is a frightening tale. Depending on which version you read, the townspeople give the scaly, stinking, vicious, dragon tribute of two sheep per day, and, when they invariably run out of sheep, they begin feeding it their own children. The King is obviously horrified, but what can he do? However, when the lottery selects his own daughter, who should appear but Sir George, (later the patron Saint of England) just in time for the king, if not for the subjects. The daughter worries for his safety, but the knight spears the dragon in its one vulnerable spot, then in a gallant display, borrows the daughter's girdle to drag the wounded dragon down to the town. For his own tribute, George asks only that the citizens become baptized; after this, he cuts off the dragon's head. Not a good ending for the dragon, but then, he wasn't a very nice dragon.
Like others before him, Kenneth Grahame modified this bloody tale for the consumption of the very young, and turned it completely on its head. This dragon would rather sleep than slay, purr than prey, and his true nature is discovered by a tow-headed young boy who gradually becomes friends with the pacifist, poetry-loving beast ("why I wouldn't hurt a fly."). Lay low, he advises him. Naturally, though, St. George arrives, and everyone acts as expected--except for the dragon. He simply refuses to attend his own demise:
"Well, tell him [St. George] to go away," said the dragon. "I'm sure he's not nice. Say he can write if he likes. But I won't see him." The boy, however, understands the underlying social pressures (which echo those of the British class system during Grahame's time) and replies: "But you've got to," said the boy. "You've got to fight him, you know, because he's St. George and you're the dragon."
The dragon, the knight, and the young boy, a person with neither power nor social distinction, make a plan. The plan is simple: Fake it. And so, like one of Vince McMahon's TV "wrestling" matches, St. George and the Dragon have it out, with flames and fury, and, as St. George just barely pierces the dragon in a pre-arranged safe spot. The townspeople, who have brought picnics for the presumed slaughter, were satisfied with the spectacle: "And all the others were happy because there had been a fight, and-well, they didn't need any other reason."
The original story, one of several short studies published in Grahame's "Dream Days" (1898, ten years before Grahame's most famous and beloved work, "The Wind in the Willows") may be found at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=GraDrea.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=7&division=div1. Grahame wrote "The Reluctant Dragon" long at times, and one sees his concerns with religion and nature so evident in the river adventure scene of Wind in the Willows. Inga Moore takes out most of the slower, descriptive narrative (which might be enjoyed by older readers), and focuses instead on the dragon/boy/St. George relationships and the exciting battle. Compare the following excerpts (the first is Grahame's); this is great abridgement except for the inexplicable deletion of the last sentence, a very funny, modernist touch by Graham:
1. Then a cloud of smoke obscured the mouth of the cave, and out of the midst of it the dragon himself, shining, sea-blue, magnificent, pranced splendidly forth; and everybody said, "Oo-oo-oo!" as if he had been a mighty rocket! His scales were glittering, his long spiky tail lashed his sides, his claws tore up the turf and sent it flying high over his back, and smoke and fire incessantly jetted from his angry nostrils. "Oh, well done, dragon!" cried the Boy, excitedly. "Didn't think he had it in him!" he added to himself.
2. Then a cloud of smoke billowed from the mouth of the cave, and out of the midst of it the dragon himself, shining, sea-blue, magnificent, pranced splendidly forth; and everybody said, "Oo-oo-oo!" His scales were glittering, his long spiky tail lashed his sides, his claws tore up the turf and sent it flying high over his back, and smoke and fire jetted from his nostrils. "Oh, well done, dragon!" cried the Boy, excitedly. "Didn't think he had it in him!" he added to himself.
Moore also displays great taste and talent in her beautiful colored pencil and ink drawings. She draws landscapes and houses in a traditional style with meticulous shading and detail, trees show the undertones of illustration from a 1912 publication. The friendly, easygoing dragon is drawn showing an easy confidence and an engaging smile, but he's actor enough to look ferocious when required. He's drawn in one of the most striking shades of blue since the ceramic in the movie "Diva." Overall, Inga Moore honors the original Grahame story while making the story and pictures maximally entertaining for young children. Publisher Candlewick has done it again; this is an extraordinary book.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A book about a dragon and a Boy - but much more..., June 2, 1999
By A Customer
Grahame's _Reluctant Dragon_ is one of the books I read numerous times as a child. I've also reread it as an adult. One of the reasons I loved it so (I realize now) is that it features a character that most of the others hate because of who he seems to be. The Dragon, who comes to the Downs to find a peaceful life and compose poetry, soon finds himself the target of a campaign on the part of the townspeople to do away with him. His only friend is the Boy, one of the farm children. Through his friendship with the Boy (who does not have a name, as I remember), we realize that although he may be a dreaded beast - a dragon - he is actually not the stereotypical firebreathing, damsel-distressing monster. In fact, he is quite kind and gentle.
When St. George comes, and the plan is to slay the Dragon, the Boy attempts to intercede(...I won't ruin the story for you but I will say you won't be sobbing at the end).
This book was important to me, I think, because I was teased a great deal as a child - I was sort of strange and dreamy and I didn't "look right" for the school I was in. But reading this book reminded me that it was better to be true to myself and who I was than to try (and fail) to fit in. (I just wish I had a friend as good as the Boy.) I think maybe this book would be best for slightly older children, if younger children are going to be read it you may have to do some explaining of the words and the archaic phrases. And the whole idea of St. George and how he is a part of English legend.
I do think that this book is one that imaginative and young-at-heart grownups would appreciate, too. If you are such, and have never read "The Reluctant Dragon", I recommend it.
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