An amusing spin off from the story of George and the Dragon as we know it…ie knight with sword killing a dragon. This book, however does indeed have a scary dragon, but the hero, far from being a knight in shining armour, is a mouse called George.
~~Story and Illustrations~~
The scene is set as we enter a landscape of high and rocky mountains and move into a "deep, deep valley in a dark dark cave"" (ooh!! The suspense). In this dark cave, lives a mighty dragon. Yes, he is big and very red. So big, in fact, that he takes up a whole double page spread, and there he stands amongst the rubble, blowing smoke from his nostrils. This mighty dragon can fly higher than the clouds and faster than the birds. He can burn down forests and smash castle walls and with a brush of his wing, he can foil and destroy whole armies.
At this stage, juts when we realise how powerful he really is, we see him flying away from the castle with the obligatory princess clutched in his terrible claws, although she doesn't seem to be struggling too much.
However, he has a very small secret. Yes, he is terrified op mice. Here we meet george, standing looking bemused. It's a shame he was afraid of mice because his new next door neighbour was george. George doesn't find his new home such a des res because it's dark and gloomy, and because the last tenant was a bat, all the fixtures and fittings are on the ceiling. To add insult to injury, there's not a cheese shop for miles, and when george discovers he has no sugar for his tea, he is less than pleased. However, he decides he can ask his new neighbour for some sugar, and off he toddles.
Yes, children guess what's going to happen. The dragon spots George, drops the princess and flies away in terror.
George gets his tea though, and becomes the hero of the court when he goes for tea with the princess in the castle. The last we see of George and the dragon is George standing by his cave with sign "beware of the mouse" and the dragon peeping out from behind one of the mountains, looking scared.
The illustrations are large and bold, and really do give a sense of size- the huge dragon as compared to the tiny little mouse. The landscape looks really gloomy, and there is lots of detail, with the text usually running along the bottom of the page so that the whole double spread can be used for the picture.
~~Other books by the same author~~
Wild Girl The Sea Monster In The Woods The Big Ugly Monster and The Little Stone Rabbit Two frogs The Animal Train
I have read only a couple of his other books, but they do tend to be worth a read, if only for the pictures.
~~Other bits of Information~~
Published: 2002
Publisher: Red Fox
ISBN: 0-09-941766-9
~~What I Thought~~
An amusing starting point for anyone doing the story of George and the dragon, but more than anything, a great story book, and one which even very young children will enjoy. When I read it, Little miss enjoys the fact that the dragon thinks he is big and strong, but is in fact scared of a tiny little mouse. Children do tend to enjoy seeing an unusual hero.
The pictures are great, with the dragon being exactly as we would imagine a fierce dragon, and the landscape in which he live being as we would imagine his home. The upside down fixtures and fittings are amusing because obviously this is where a bat would put his table and chairs, on the ceiling. They DO sleep upside down, after all, so why not do their entertaining upside down.
A quirky interpretation of a story most people know, and one which is sure to entertain children.
Thanks for reading.
Daniela xx
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Far far away in the high high mountains in a deep deep valley in a dark dark cave ... more
...there lived a mighty dragon. He was an awesome and frightening creature terrorising whole armies destroying castles demolishing forests and kidnapping princesse...
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