Eric Carle's Dragons, Dragons

A treasury to savor. Some of the poems are light verse, but some are Shakespeare & the Bible, too. Also one of my favorite authors, [a:Eleanor Farjeon|227924|Eleanor Farjeon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1302012775p2/227924.jpg] has a poem included that I don't recall seeing before, Pegasus.

Very diverse cultures are included; this is truly an 'around the world' collection (unlike the ones I grew up with 50 years ago). Glossary, indices, and bibliography included. Hardcover is oversize, but Carle's art makes it worthy. Highly recommended to families looking to learn more about different cultures' mythologies.

Btw, I think Carle's art style makes the creatures look so fantastical that they won't give anyone nightmares, but if they show more do, read the very last verse, by Shakespeare, "If we shadows have offended...."

I will look for more compilations by Whipple; I opine that she did a good job selection the best poems (or short excerpts from prose) to be able to include the greatest variety of creatures. show less

I have four kids under eight. I read a lot of kids books. Generally I don't review them here unless I am reviewing a book for a publisher or a book particularly stands out. Let's face it, a lot of picture books are insipid.

But Eric Carle is the artist behind that loveable Hungry Caterpillar. This book is a collection of monsters, gods, and mythological creatures. Caryle's artistic renderings are paired with poetry taken from the world of literature. Fun to read and look at and ponder each beast. My kids all like it, and I like sharing it with them. Unfortunately no Jabberwocky.

I read Eric Carle's Dragons Dragons to my son (6 years old) last night. He is really interested in mythical creatures so the collection was perfect for him (all of the poems in the collection are about mythical creatures). As always, Eric Carle's illustrations were beautiful. There were a wide variety of poets included in the collection, but fewer that I had already heard of compared with Animals Animals. There was also a great diversity of mythical creatures from many different cultures. My son's favorite poem was about Anansi so we have decided to find a book with more of the Anansi stories to read together. I really like it when a book inspires my children to read even more. Until now he has mostly been interested in Greek mythology show more and this was a great way to broaden his horizon. show less

I absolutely loved this book, especially because it was a poetry book. The rhyming and poetry made it very engaging to read and that is one thing I loved about it. Secondly I loved the illustrations. Eric Carle’s use of watercolors and tissue paper make his illustrations very unique and fun to look at. I also loved how each creature that had a poem had its own illustration. It helps the reader visualize what the creature looks like. I think the main idea of this book is to help the reader use their imagination and to teach about mythical creatures.

Great for K-2nd grade given its beautiful illustrations, and interesting subject matter. It's a collection of poems about mythical creatures, such as, a Yeti, Minotaur, Unicorn, Pan, Mermaid, Chinese Dragon, and many more. Some of the poems are written by famous poets and writes, like John Gardner, and Sir Richard Burton. Children can learn so much from this book. Although many kids are familiar with unicorns and dragons, few are savvy to Pan from Greek mythology, or Anansi, the spider creature of African and Caribbean folklore. This book is terrific for showing children aspects of different cultures, and expanding their worlds.

The glossary included at the end of the book, is an excellent, quick reference for children reading it.

I read this all the time when I was a kid. I loved learning about all the mythical creatures, which I was very interested in, I liked that there were pictures of all of them so I could draw them, and I loved that it was poetry because I could remember their descriptions easily by remembering the poems.

Genre: poetry
This is a great book. Each page has a different mythological creature with a description explaining what they are. In the middle of the book, there is a "double page" where it folds out to reveal a poster size dragon. Eric Carle's artwork is always amazing. When Carle was a little boy he said that, " I will be a scribbler one day!" And he achieved his goal eventually. My favorite is "The Kracken". I will use it for lower elementary school students.