Raising Dragons

This beautiful book was recommended to me by a fellow librarian when I was looking for fantasy/sci-fi books with BIPOC charactersfor younger readers preK-2. Raising Dragons is a beautiful story of a young girl full of imagination and dreams, who loves her family's farm and her life there but firmly believes in the magical and fanciful, even as her parents deny it exists. One day, though, when a dragon egg shows up on their farm and the daughter decides to raise it, they have to believe. As the dragon, Hank, grows and they continue their friendship, the family realizes how wondrous - and practical and helpful - Hank really is. The ending is bittersweet, as the girl has to say goodbye when she takes Hank to be with his fellow dragons at the end, but he gives her eggs to raise and promises to visit - which we are shown on the last page, in a beautiful swirl of colorful lights and baby green dragons frolicking around the girl and Hank. I loved how this book featured a young Black girl as the protagonist, how she was part of a farming family (nice change from the flood of white families that usually dominate farming books), and the family's colorful Southern voice with expressions like "plumb flabbergasted" and "varmints" sprinkled in lightly and vibrant similes like "louder than one hundred firecrackers on the Fourth of July." Other great small details include the girl reading the dragon a LIBRARY book, the girl's mention that her Ma and Pa had taught her to care for all living creatures (they just didn't think it would include dragons), and of course the pastel/acrylic illustrations, breathtaking and comforting at once in this fantastic but homey world.

This story is great! My daughter loves dragons and I wanted a well rounded book for her at bed time. Here are my favorite features:Dialect- great dialect! You can hear the accent of the characters, and it's fun to read using the accent once you catch on. This is great for further development in auditory and imaginative comprehension.characters- the characters are well written in the story. The main character, and African American girl is smart, brave and cool witted. She's great for young girls. I like that unlike most of the books my daughter owns, this character is African American. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to expose kids to realistic character design in a world of white washed fairy tales.This story in short is about a girl who lives with her family on a farm and discovers a dragon egg. Her parents have no interest in it, but she cares for the egg. Once it hatches into a (you guessed it) dragon, she raises it to help out on the farm. If ends up becoming a spectacle of the town, and the girl sets it free on an island of dragons.

I struggle finding books about strong girls that don't become too scary for my girl's sensitive little soul. This book is gentle, kind, loving, and fun, and the main character is determined and smart! My daughter loves this book, and says "Dragon farming is in my blood, too!"

I bought this book for my four year old. It was okay. the imagery was a bit dark - she was a little frightened by it.The text size could have been larger for that age so that I could have started pointing out shorter words to her while I read to her. The text to background contrast also needed some work; it was a little difficult to read.The story line was interesting and after she got over her anxiety about what was happening in the story -because of the first impression caused by the use of color, she thought it was a good story.

I read this to my son's class, and the kids loved it. I wasn't sure it would keep their interest since they are school aged, but the story and vocabulary were complex enough to keep them interested. On the flip side, it probably wouldn't be a great pick to read aloud to younger kids, because some pages have lots of words.

I stumbled upon this book when my kids were small and we all fell in love. I have been trying to find it to gift to the next generation of littles running around and was so very pleased to find it! I have ordered multiple copies to have on hand as the babies come into the world.

The perfect book for a mythical creature birthday party if you’re trying to branch out from unicorns! So different and inclusive. Great message!

I loved this story about a girl who knows who she is and what she was born to do in her own calm, wise way. Touching and lovely, with charming text and pictures. I bought this for my 3 year old goddaughter - this book is probably more appropriate in terms of the amount of text for a slightly older child, but she will grow into it!

Recommended as you may know by 'Mighty Girl' as a fantasy story book for young kids with strong or well rounded female characters. Yep loved it. Great for both Dad (me) or Mum to read (as they are both sound people in the story too). Long enough to feel like a real story while short enough to get them to bed after a long day! And to quote my 6/7 year old daughter ... "I think it was epic. Five stars!" Suitable for any age younger than that too.

Great story! My three year old loves it, but I have to skip lots of text because it's a bit long for a three year old. But he loves the pictures and the overall idea. Be warned though: it is super American, I have to adjust lots of the text when I read it just so that he knows what I'm talking about.

I brought this as recommended by a mighty girl.com I'm really glad I did it's a great book. I love reading this to my 2 year old. The illustrations are lovely and the story line is really sweet.

Lovely story written as it would be spoken. Read this to my reception class and they loved it.

Fun read about discovering and raising dragons.