Children's Corner: George's Dragon

We have lots of dragon books in our house and have read several more from the library, but George's Dragon is one of my favorites. Unlike many other dragon books, this one isn't written as a hypothetical.  George goes to the pet shop and selects a baby dragon for his birthday... his parent's think he's just a funny looking lizard because they didn't hear the pet shop man say that Sparky was a dragon... Sparky even comes with a leaflet explaining how to care for him and a disclaimer that accident's will happen, but somehow George neglects to mention it to his parents.

As Sparky grows he and George bond as lifelong playmates, but George's parents are starting to get fed up with  the scorch marks and broken  everything.  However, when disaster strikes and Sparky saves the day, the parental expectations are adjusted, and all ends well.

I love that it's cute, but not over the top silly.  It's one of those wonderful books where the parents are oblivious to the child's secret until it singes their curtains ...and it's always fun to be let in on someone else's secret.  I love that it shows that parents can make a decision and change their mind when they look at things in a new light... children need to know that adults can learn and grow and change their minds too.