Take Care, Good Knight [Hardcover]

Shelley Moore Thomas (Author), Paul Meisel (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2006 | Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Good Knight

At last, here is a picture book about the Good Knight and his three little dragon friends, the stars of Dutton’s best-loved Easy Readers. The old wizard has asked the dragons to take care of his cats for a few days. There’s just one problem: they can’t read the wizard’s instructions! The dragons make their best guesses. They take the cats swimming and camping, with hilarious results. Of course, it’s up to the Good Knight to come to the rescue in his funniest outing yet.

Good Night, Good Knight was an ALA Notable Book and a Booklist Top 10 Easy Reader, among other honors.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Three lovable little dragons from the Dutton Easy Readers series that began with Good Night, Good Knight (2000) now appear in a large-format picture book. When a friendly old wizard asks them to watch his cats while he is gone, they readily agree. Later, unable to read his instructions, the preliterate dragons are baffled but still game. They pore over his illustrated message, guess at the words, and use clues from the pictures he has drawn, but they wildly mistake his meanings. In one case, they imagine that a pool of water means "take the cats swimming" rather than "give the cats fresh water." Well suited to reading aloud, the story is written with a keen ear for language and a good understanding of what makes young children laugh. Meisel's ink-and-watercolor illustrations, full of lively details, are as entertaining as the story. Sure to please the not-reading-quite-yet set as well as the many fans of the previous books. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Shelley Moore Thomas lives in California.

Paul Meisel lives in Connecticut.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1ST edition (September 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525479279
• ISBN-13: 978-0525476955
• ASIN: 0525476954
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We just love this series!!!, September 19, 2008

By 

Jen B (VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take Care, Good Knight (Hardcover)

My four year old girl has been enamored with dragons for a couple of years, and has lately gotten very interested in knights, castles, etc. I quickly found that there is very little out there that is appropriate for smaller children, on the subject of knights. Either the information is too complex, or more likely, too gruesome for my taste. When I discovered this sweet series, I immediately wanted all of them.
I really like the way the verses flow and how the author repeats the action over and over. So many rhyming books for kids sound awkward and forced, but not these. They are just wonderful!
These are just fun books. I'm glad my library has them, but we are buying them too, so we can read them whenever we want! It is a refreshing angle to the knight and dragon relationship. Nearly everything else I found was adversarial, and since we love dragons, I was sorry about that.
If you have a child who loves knights and dragons, also check out Tomie Paola's The Knight and the Dragon, about a knight reading up on how to fight dragons and a dragon reading up on how to fight knights. The "fight" is hilarious and the end has a clever twist that delighted my child and me too!
The Reluctant dragon, by Kenneth Grahame, is either for an older child who can read, or a great read aloud that my four year old enjoyed, and there is a neat old Disney movie based on this book. We loved this too.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great story, September 23, 2007

By 

Kerry S. "gen x'er" (Cleveland, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take Care, Good Knight (Hardcover)

My 3 almost turning 4 year old loves this story. It tells the adventures of 3 little dragons that agree to babysit the wizard's cats. Hilariously, the dragons do the best they can with the cats getting the worst of it (great for dog lovers!) Teaches right from wrong and reinforces how important it is to learn to read. My kids like to pretend "meow" when the cats are in the cupboard. We will read the author's other books because we liked this one so much.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny Bed Time Read, January 16, 2012

By 

Succotash - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Take Care, Good Knight (Hardcover)

This book has been read about a million times for betimes, and each time when the Knight says "this does not seem right" it gets giggles. It's about three little dragons who are entrusted with the Wizard's cats while he is gone. And since they can't read the instructions, they make it up as they go along with funny results. The Good Knight comes along and helps the little dragons out. While the story line is funny and entertaining, the pictures really capture the feelings and plot of the book.