Discovery of Dragons

by Graeme Base

Book Overview

The book follows the adventures of three explorers, a 6th-century Viking, the daughter of a 13th-century Chinese silk-trader, and a Prussion cartologist of the 19th century. They all turn out to be... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810932377
• ISBN13: 9780810932371
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.8" x 13.8"
• Age Range: 10 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 7

Customer Reviews

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Impressive

I stumbled upon this book when I was looking around in the Children's Section (yes, I do that), for the role-playing books. Terribly annoying that they put role-playing in that same category, but oh well, I'm not so proud that I won't go there. And I found, much to my surprise, a similar outcast - Base's books are written with amusement and sophistication, and while they could be entertaining if read to a child, they are not children's books. This one is gorgeous, with the dragons fully rendered, amusing (and fictional) notes in reference to them from various explorers, tiny cartoons in the framing illustrating the stories involving the dragons, and maps of the world which show where the dragon comes from. Also, the dragons have a size comparison, from a man (who happens to be running away in the silhouette comparison), to an elephant. The only flaw? A jungle dragon described as a "massive beast" in the text and shown to be much larger than a man in the cartoon frame, is shown as the size of a cat on the size-comparison silhouettes. An impressive side note: Base did the artwork too!

Funny

Had to explain the concept a little, but just a little. This book was fun to read with my 7 year old.

The perfect gift choice for a true dragon connoisseur

This is the kind of book you leave on a coffee table for visitors to peruse. It has beautiful large color plates of dragons on every left-side page and amusing anecdotes on each facing page. The author is presuming to be an authority on "the discovery of dragons" and in a tongue-in-cheek narrative is trying to professionally prove the disclaimers of his "one time colleague Marty Fibblewitz" who has now "chosen to side with the doubters." THE DISCOVERY OF DRAGONS is divided into three sections of nine pages each: The Discovery of European Dragons, The Discovery of Asiatic Dragons, and The Discovery of Tropical Dragons. The first page of each section is an introduction to the section that describes the distinctive qualities of the dragons of said region, introduces the adventurer who discovered those dragons, and throws pot-shots at 'Professor' Fibblewitz. The following eight pages of each subsection show the author's 'proof' of these discoveries. European dragons, says the author, were discovered by Bjorn of Bromme, Viking, from A.D. 856 through A.D. 863. He discovered Great Snow Dragons in Greenland, an Emerald Dragon in Ireland, a Welsh Red Dragon sleeping on a horde of treasure, and the St. George Dragon (yes, that very same dragon). The author's proof comes in the way of letters found, scrawled penmanship on linen to his cousin Olaf back in Norway (who seems to be having his own problems Rampaging the countryside). In The Discovery of Asiatic Dragons, we meet heroine Soong Mei Ying, faithful daughter of a thirteenth-century Chinese Silk trader, who--while taking her ailing father's silks to a far away market--discovers a pair of Mongolian Screamers, a Japanese Butterfly Lizard with medicinal qualities, and Eastern Temple Worm, and a Great Golden Worm. Now, the Letters of Dr. E.F. Liebermann in The Discovery of Tropical Dragons might be just a tad funnier than those of Bjorn of Bromme (it's a close tie, actually). Dr. Liebermann went to Africa in 1847 searching for the African Frilled Frog. He never finds this frog, but along the way he discovers four kinds of dragon (Livingstone's Demon, the Crested Dipper, a monstrous Common Green Draak, and several deadly Spotted Marsh Draaks). He also invents the typewriter and figures out the theory of continental drift. This is an adorable book! Each section has its own style, and the characters--illuminated by their letters home--are unique individuals with great quirks. Each page is laden with tiny details that enthralled this reader. The letters home all have subtle changes as the adventurer passes from one discovery into the next--some of them quite hilarious. There's footnotes and maps and scale diagrams and miniature picture story reels across the bottom of each page . . . all done in glorious and changing detail work. But the best part are the dragon plates themselves: these large color paintings are gorgeous. THE DISCOVERY OF DRAGONS is a real winner, the perfect gift ch

Important reference for dragon-spotters everywhere.

"The discovery of dragons" is an academic textwrittenby Rowland W. Greasebeam B.Sc., the author of such works as"Uncle Greasebeam's big book of scarey dragons" and"Hiss or myth?" (or possibly by Graeme Base). Despite thedefection of his one-time collegue Marty Fibblewitz, Mr Greasebeam haspublished facsimiles of letters written by three great dragondiscoverers, with explanatory notes. The book features colourillustrations, the known world distrobution of the discovered dragons,and handy diagrams indicating size. For example, the Common GreenDraak can be recognised by it's stench, call: "DRAAAAAKDRAAAAAK," carnivorous nature, and the fact that it is abouttwice the size of an elephant, whereas the more dainty JapaneseButterfly Lizard can be quickly seen to be only about the size of amouse. (This could be very useful to Dragon Watchers, as one would notwant to confuse the two!)As well as dragon afficionados, this bookwould appeal to readers of "Lady Cottington's Pressed FairyBook."

The hidden jokes never cease to delight

I love this book! Not only are the pictures gorgeous (is there a calendar format of this?) but the letters are hilarious and I never cease to find something new each time I look at it. For example, those who have read it know that Dr. E. F. Liebermann was looking for frilled frogs and accidentally happened upon the dragons, but was disappointed at the lack of frogs. But there's a frilled frog hidden in every picture!! This book is witty, beautiful, and enchanting. I have to buy another 2 copies for friends!!