The Dragons Are Singing Tonight

This is a beautiful book from every angle. Amazing illustrations bring the heart felt and imaginative poems to life. The poems express various subtle and explicit emotions, concepts, and ideas. Poems such as "I Am My Master's Dragon" about a dragon who wishes to fly free but does not want to show his master disloyalty, strikes an emotional chord with anyone who has ever had to balance commitment with conflicting desires. Children will love the poem, "Nasty Little Dragonsong" about a nasty little dragon who is a half of an inch tall, and ,despite his cloudy disposition, usually goes unnoticed. An underlying theme of wonder and nostalgia pervades this book.

This book contained some very good poems. The overall theme of the book talks about the dragons that live among us in this fantasy setting. One of the things I like about this book is some of the themes this book covers. In the poem “I am my Masters Dragon” the poem talks about a dragon that is treated well by his master but wishes to roam free, but feels as though that this isn’t important because his master is smart and treats him well. While I feel like this could be interpreted in a variety of ways, I like to view this as a parallel as to how we treat other animals as pets, making us question if they are truly happy or want to be free. Another thing I like about this book is the illustrations. Each page has a different kind of show more dragon on the page. Some are as tall as mountains, while some are half an inch tall. While some are super realistic, others look as though they are pixilated and belong in a computer. This variety is refreshing and does not make the illustrations become boring between each poem. Overall, this poetry book was a fun read that I had a blast reading. show less

Begun and done. A wonderful little collection of clever rhyming prose that will delight the kiddos, while still enchanting adults with its witty wordy wonders. Hard pressed to pick a favorite, but I have to say, the imagery combined the poem itself of IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN DRAGONS, definitely had me smiling.

Children will love Jack Prelutsky's light and humurous poetry in this collection of works entitled, "The Dragons Are Singing Tonight", about dragon themed tales. Prelutsky takes you on an adventure with various dragon tales that will have each reader giggling and creating their own experiences with a dragon. Prelutsky utilizes iambic tetrameter, a specific rhyming scheme where the last words of the second and fourth lines will rhyme. One example is his poem entitled, "If You Don't Believe in Dragons", that goes as follows: "If you don't believe in dragons, it is curiously true, that the dragons you disparage, choose to not believe in you."

These silly poems will encourage students to tap into their creativity while using the iambic show more tetrameter rhyming style. Children can have so much fun using their imaginations and creating their own wacky poems.

I really enjoyed the simple and funny dragon-themed poetry of Prelutsky. He writes lighthearted poems that put a smile on your face. It would be easy for anyone to become interested in poetry after lines like, "My dragon wasn't feeling good, he had a nasty chill, and couldn't keep from shivering, I saw that he was ill. His eyes were red and watery, his nose was running too, his flame was but a fizzle, and his cheeks were pallid blue." Hopefully his sing-song poetry inspires many children to create their own dragon poem. show less

I had mixed feelings about the story of short poems “The Dragons Are Singing Tonight”. One aspect I had mixed feelings about was the writing. Each poem in the story was about a different type of dragon or how a child did or did not believe in dragons. The one poem I liked was about not believing in dragons. “If you don’t believe in dragons, it is curiously true that the dragons you disparage choose to not believe in you.” The writing flowed together well but I do not think little children would understand what the word disparage meant. I think some of the wording is too complicated for young children. One aspect that I liked was the illustrations. They took up the entire page and gave the readers a sense of the different types show more of dragons that there are. The big idea of this story is to be creative and have a good sense of imagination. show less

This collection of children’s poem from Jack Perlutsky is centered around dragons. Most of the poems are happy or funny, a few heartfelt, but all are lovely. They are all set off by great illustrations by peter sis. This book may be old but it can and will stand the test of time.

I saw this book at the PA Renaissance Faire on Sunday and picked it up because I love dragons. I collect dragon statues, have honestly not read many dragon stories, but I was pleasantly surprised with this book full of rhyming poetry. The woman at the Faire’s “Scriptorium” (book store) said her favorite poem was called Nasty Little DragonSong, and that is definitely up there with some of my favorites too. It is hard to choose but I think my favorite is this one.

Once They All Believed In Dragons
Once they all believed in dragons

When the world was fresh and young,

We were woven into legends,

Tales were told and songs were sung,

We were treated with obeisance,

We were honored, we were feared,

Then one day they stopped believing –

On that show more day, we disappeared.

Now they say our time is over,

Now they say we’ve lived our last,

Now we’re treated with derision

Where we once ruled unsurpassed.

We must make them all remember

In some way we must reveal

That our spirit lives forever -

We are Dragons! We are real! show less