Customer Reviews

The Knight and the Dragon

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is about a knight learning how to kill a dragon and vice versa. The two actually try to kill each other on one page. Once you reach half way through the book, there are no more words so you have to improvise with your child. Weird.

This is one of my favorite children's books. A knight and a dragon, both perfectly content on their own, realize that they are not living up to society's expectations of them and begin preparing for THE FIGHT. They're terrible at it, though, and fare much better as restauranteurs. What a great lesson, and what a great way to tell it. The book itself contains very few words, but lots of diPaola's detailed, engaging pictures, making it appropriate for a variety of ages. We've read this to our two-year old, discussing how fighting isn't very helpful. I imagine we'll be reading it to her when she's four or six, discussing how you shouldn't do things you don't like just because others say you should. An added bonus is that the princess, who is never mentioned in the text, provides the solution for "the boys", who initially appear to be the main characters in the story. It's a neat twist on a classic theme.

This is a well told story with excellent illustrations. It also happens to teach some important life lessons. You don't have to be what people expect you to be. Co-operation is better than fighting. You can use what you're good at to benefit the world around you. My early readers appreciate it because most of the story is told by the illustrations with a few words to help the story along. We love Tomie DePoala's illustrations!

The book is great. It is very funny. Both my son and I
enjoyed it a lot.
The book is very good for kids who just learned to read.

To begin with, one of the reviewers wrote that her four year old son cried when she read this book to him. WHAAA! Maybe the kid needs a Barbie Doll. Anyway, I have three boys from 2-6 and this is by far the most entertaining book we read together. We sit down together and we read about the clumsy knight and the clumsy dragon who each have no business fighting. It is very funny to see them pass each other, the knight ready to lance the dragon and the dragon ready to cook the knight- and end up in water and trees. I suppose you could make it a serious story if you wanted, about how fighting is not necessary and there are other alternatives and blah, blah, blah. But it DOESN'T have to be! Just read it at face value and laugh with your kids. They will enjoy it and you will to. It really is a fun book and the illustrations are hardly terrifying. In fact, they are rather comical. In the end, the clumsy knight and the dragon befriend each other and open a restaurant. The knight lances the burgers and holds them over his shield- now a BBQ- and the dragon cooks them with his fire breath. An entertaining read for the 3-6 year old "men" in your house. From, Dad P.S. I am sure that those of you with young girls will enjoy the story as well. It is ultimately the princess in the story who sets the two "fighters" straight. Some things never change...

This funny lighthearted book encourages kids to discard traditional rivalries and consider creative opportunities for cooperation. Let your child interpret the amusing illustrations and open the door to two-way discussions of these issues.

My almost-4-year-old son loves this book. He's interested in knights and fighting, like many little boys. We laugh and laugh at the silly things that happen to the knight and dragon as they try to fight and fail. As a parent I appreciate a book that doesn't glorify fighting, but still acknowledges that children are facinated by the knights of old who fought with swords and lances, and plays with that interest. Don't look for lectures on fighting, or serious displays of sword technique. This one is just for giggles.

My four-year old son was so disappointed with this book that hecried.

Although the story offers an alternative to fighting, thealternative is only born out of the ineptitude of both the knight and the dragon. They try to fight, but fail. Only after failing do they become friends. What kind of motivation is that?

In addition, the story did not offer any motivation for the knight to fight the dragon in the first place. There was really no conflict. Therefore, they did not overcome anything by working together in the end, except perhaps their own ignorance. Even at that, though, the knight and the dragon do not finally come to any deeper understanding about each other.

If the author wanted to help children understand that we should work together, why not show the knight and dragon working together to solve a problem?

If your child revels in the brave deeds of St. George and other knights, he or she may be sorely disappointed.

This knight and dragon are wimpy!

I found this book as an insert in a book on how to compete effectively in business. It offers, in an easy to follow and very enjoyable way, some original thinking on how to turn traditional competition into cooperative endeavors. A must for parents who want to teach children ways to consider alternatives to fighting. The drawings are also charming.