The Reluctant Dragon

by Robert D. San Souci

San Souci and Segal pair up in this clever, funny retelling of Kenneth Grahame's THE RELUCTANT DRAGON which includes miniature illustrations throughout. When Jack's father discovers a fire-breathing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439455812
• ISBN13: 9780439455817
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Orchard Books (NY)
• Length: 39 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.0" x 12.2"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book.

Fanciful and charming. I enjoyed reading it to my nephew and he loved it too. The artwork is lovely also. I'm looking forward to reading it again, with or without my nephew.

A Separate Peace

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 en

Deserves to be better known

I had forgotten this charming children's book, if I had ever known it at all. That is a real shame, and I am very glad to have made or remade its acquaintance. This book calls out to be read to a small child. On the surface, the premise is just silly. A gentle dragon introduces himself to The Boy, the only name for our young central character, saying "Now don't you hit me!" The dragon is, in his own words, "a confoundedly lazy beggar." The Boy becomes the dragon's friend and critic of the dragon's poetry. That means there's a real problem to solve when a dragon-slaying Saint George pulls into town. Everyone, the Boy included, wants to see a little excitement between the dragon and St. George. The saint is a reasonable man, however, and sees the merit in putting on a good show without really harming the friendly (if lazy) dragon. I'll let you enjoy the happy details for yourself, and I don't think I spoil the ending by saying that everyone ends up happy and well-fed. This is a brief, enjoyable story with a Winnie the Pooh pace and drawing-room manner. It's sweet, gentle, and delicately illustrated. I hope that a new generation of readers and readers-to-be discovers this one, and gets the same pleasure from it that I have. //wiredweird

Especially charming... especially rich...

Kenneth Grahame's other wonderful story, retold. But, this time around, what is especially charming, especially rich, what makes all the difference is something new: the captivating illustrations. John Segal's images are much more than simply illustrative additions;they are a stream of the most beautiful, diminutive, vibrant watercolour paintings. They make the book.Mr. Segal's art lends color and life to the story -- and his handwritten excerpts add a dimensionality and energy to the text -- in a way that you cannot glean until you have the deliriously gorgeous volume happily in hand. Perfect.BTW The story incorporates that ever important, inestimably valuable moral lesson: things may not be what they first appear to be... or... what we first (and sometimes erroneously) conclude them to be...to our happy surprise.

A somewhat humorous children's book

This was absolutely my favorite book as a young child about 60 years ago. I am pleased to see that it is still available. Most fables about dragons picture them as dangerous beasts guarding treasure troves, but this dragon is a different sort indeed - an erudite peaceful dragon that had hoped to have a quiet retirement. When a knight arrives to rid the neighborhood of the dragon, he is invited in for tea, and discovers the dragon does not wish to fight. In the classic tale, "Beowulf," the dragon was provoked by someone stealing a piece of the treasure. In this story, the knight finds a quite different means to provoke the dragon into breathing fire (after all, the knight's reputation is at stake). The story has an unexpected ending. The book is suitable for reading to single children or groups of younger children, or for slightly older children (and sometimes adults) to read for themselves.