Book Review: My Father's Dragon

My Father's Dragon
By Ruth Stiles Gannett

If you are in need of a short chapter book to capture the interest of a boy, My Father's Dragon is a great place to start.

It is a fanciful tale of a young boy, Elmer, who is persuaded by a stray cat to travel to Wild Island to free an enslaved baby dragon. The animals of Wild Island are notoriously vicious, and the cat warns Elmer that no explorer has ever returned from Wild Island. Undaunted, Elmer packs a backpack full of odd necessities and stows away on a ship to begin his journey. Once he has arrived at his destination, he uses his sharp thinking skills and the contents of his backpack to outwit animals on the island one by one.

The ten chapters are short and can each be read aloud in about five minutes. To further stimulate the imagination, the book includes a number of whimsical black and white illustrations.

I recently read this book to my 6 1/2 year-old son and 4 year-old daughter. Purposely, I chose to read them only one chapter per day. This kept them on the edge of their seats begging for more. As with any wonderful tale, they enjoyed it so much that they were sorry it had to end. The good news is that My Father's Dragon is the first book in a trilogy, so more literary adventures await them.

Here are the remaining two titles in the trilogy: