Hello, everyone! It’s crazy to think that fall is now behind us. Although the temperature has fluctuated greatly over the past few weeks, the bitter cold we are now experiencing is a foreshadowing, I believe, for many snowy days ahead.
Much like a book, I view seasons as a new chapter – an almost “mini beginning” to a fresh view of life and all its possibilities. As we continue into this new chapter of the winter season, I felt a new blog post was most appropriate.
As mentioned in my initial post back in June, I am a huge fan of picture books. In my house, you can pretty much find them in every room. Yes, we have that many! It’s important to me that my girls always have access to books, and really, who doesn’t love a good picture book? But more importantly, who doesn’t love one that screams READ ME ALOUD (figuratively, of course), while also being laugh-out-loud funny? Not all picture books fall into this category, however, and that’s okay! They don’t all need to. But boy do I love those that do!
In the past month, I have been lucky enough to read two picture books that meet these criteria, and what makes them even more fun, is that both are about dragons! Yep, that’s right – dragons! Dragons to me bring an element of quirky humor that you can’t find in just any story, and both stories hit the nail on the head in this regard.
The first of the two I want to highlight, and a personal favorite of mine by the way, is Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin.
This book shouts from the rooftops just how much dragons do, in fact, love tacos! Dragons love tiny tacos, gigantic tacos, crunchy tacos, and chicken tacos, really, any and all tacos you can think of. They even love taco parties! But here’s the thing – dragons despise spicy salsa. In fact, one bite of spicy salsa will turn dragons into a flaming fiery mess! Whatever you do, do not feed dragons tacos with spicy salsa, or you’ll be sorry! This hilarious tale is full of delightful humor with its rhythmic narrative and hilariously colorful illustrations, which truly capture the absurdity of it all. I promise that if you love laughing, and you love tacos, you will love this story – trust me!
The second book, another fantastic one, is There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight by Penny Parker Klostermann. Of course, upon reading this story, the title reminded me of another hilariously engaging tale There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, and Klostermann does a fantastic job of mirroring this humor. If you are a fan of Simms Taback’s classic book, you will be a fan of this one!
In this story, the reader is introduced to a dragon that has quite the large appetite! So large, in fact, that he decides to not only swallow a knight, but a steed, a squire, a cook, a lady, a castle, and a moat! But don’t worry, the dragon soon realizes that enough is enough, and before you know it, the entire kingdom that is floating around in his belly comes up in one big BURP – or two. Either way, they all get out unscathed. Well, maybe not all of them.
Feel free to share some of your favorite picture books. I’m always looking for new ones to immerse myself in. In the meantime, enjoy some dragon reading!
Laura Marinakos joined SCBWI in February of 2017, and finds being part of such an incredible community both motivating and inspiring. She is a lover of children’s literature, writing, and coffee. Laura studied children’s literature while going for her Master’s at Penn State, and over the spring of 2017, took Susanna Leonard Hill’s course, “Making Picture Book Magic,” which she found to be a wonderful experience! Writing is not new to Laura, as she has spent the last ten years working in Marketing related jobs, where a primary part of her roles have included writing, editing, and proofreading. Laura is enjoying her new journey toward hopefully one day publishing a great picture book of her own. Right now, however, she is just having fun with the whole process! Laura lives in Eastern PA with her husband, two girls (ages 1 and 3), and stepson (age 16).
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