My Father's Dragon (Paperback)

by Ruth Stiles Gannett (Author) "Once cold rainy day when my father was a little boy, he met an old alley cat on his street..." (more)
Key Phrases: Wild Island, Ocean Rocks, Elmer Elevator (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
My Father's Dragon--a favorite of young readers since the 1940s and a Newbery honor book--captures the nonsensical logic of childhood in an amusingly deadpan fashion. The story begins when Elmer Elevator (the narrator's father as a boy) runs away with an old alley cat to rescue a flying baby dragon being exploited on a faraway island. With the help of two dozen pink lollipops, rubber bands, chewing gum, and a fine-toothed comb, Elmer disarms the fiercest of beasts on Wild Island. The quirky, comical adventure ends with a heroic denouement: the freeing of the dragon. Abundant black-and-white lithographs by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (the author's stepmother) add an evocative, lighthearted mood to an already enchanting story. Author Ruth Stiles Gannett 's stand-alone sequel, Elmer and the Dragon, and her third volume, The Dragons of Blueland both received starred reviews in School Library Journal and are as fresh and original as her first. (Ages 4 to 8)

Product Description
A young boy recounts his father's adventures on an island where animals are endowed with human traits.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (November 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394890485
• ISBN-13: 978-0394890487
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #103,609 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #7 in	Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( G ) > Gannett, Ruth Stiles
  #8 in	Books > Children's Books > Series > Fantasy & Adventure > My Father's Dragon
  #74 in	Books > Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Dragons

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect first chapter book, July 28, 2001

By	"bluemamma" (San Luis Obispo, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This was the first chapter book I read to my son, when he was 4, and I couldn't have found a better choice. The story is simple and easy to follow — a nine-year-old boy saves an enslaved baby dragon and then flies home on the dragon's back. The book's language is simple and direct. And there's a black and white drawing on almost every other page, which is perfect, because most young children still need a picture to look at while they're listening.

The best thing about the book for me was that even though there's plenty of action (mostly involving the little boy outsmarting a series of wild animals in order to reach the dragon), there's nothing the least bit scary here. That was very important to me as the mother of a four-year-old. The book was written in the forties, and it has a sweet, gentle, old-fashioned quality that it's hard to find in any form of entertainment for young children today. (Even Disney is too intense for a lot of four-year-olds.) It has the kind of innocence most of us would like our children to be able to hang on to for a few years.

My son loved the book so much we read it over and over again, and went on to read the other two books in the series (Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland) many times as well.

Years later, when he was in third grade, his teacher mentioned to me that she was hunting for a chapter book to read to the class, but wasn't having much luck. Everything she looked at seemed beyond the attention span of many of the kids in her class. I told her about My Father's Dragon, but I also said it probably wasn't exciting enough to hold the attention of third graders. But she tried it anyway, and later told me that kids who had never shown any interest in books were reminding her every day to read another chapter. She, too, went on to read the whole series.

It's a great introduction to chapter books. More important, it's a lovely, gentle book to share with a child.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an unexpected new favorite, October 22, 2000

By	Melissa Bach (Rockport, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been expecting my seven year old son to become, like the rest of the world, an addict of the Harry Potter books, but no dice.

Instead, he came home from his multi-age class rhapsodizing about a book I had never heard of...My Father's Dragon. And although I haven't read it (yet), I can tell you for sure what happens in the first five chapters, because my son tells us all with such verve and enthusiasim about the adventures that take place there! How the narrator's father gets out of the tigers, and builds a bridge with the crocodiles are two of his favorite parts, and the words "Bome Cack! Bome Cack!! have entered our vocabularies probably forever.

I think the three books in this series will be entering our household at Christmas time, and I can't wait to read them myself!

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Start of a Fun Series, February 14, 2002

By	Mark Baker (Santa Clarita, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

MY FATHER'S DRAGON tells the story of Elmer Elevator. When he hears the plight of a baby dragon captured and enslaved by the residents of Wild Island, he leaves home to free the animal. Armed only with gum, lollipops, magnifying glasses, hair ribbons, and other such items, he sets out. But will this be enough to face lions, tigers, gorillas, and crocodiles?

This is a fun early reader chapter book. The chapters are the perfect length to hook the beginning reader. The story is imaginative, delightful, and downright funny in spots while still being simple enough for young kids to follow. I reread it recently for the first time in years and was surprised at how short and simple it really was. When I was a boy, it seemed much longer and more complicated. There are numerous drawings that wonderfully highlight some of the funnier parts of the story. Adults should enjoy it just as much as their kids.

Readers of this book will want to get the other two in the series and read the further adventures of Elmer. This is a series that will be enjoyed for generations to come.