Illustration and text copyright 2015 by Douglas Florian
From Kirkus, a review of my latest book, How to Draw a Dragon, to be published April 14th by Beach Lane Books, a division of Simon & Schuster.
KIRKUS REVIEWS
February 1, 2015
Florian's rhyming verse carries a group of children
through drawing their own dragon, starting with the encouraging couplet, "Drawing
dragons isn't hard. / Drag a dragon to your yard. "The front endpapers
catalog dragon eyes, scales, teeth and so on, while the back endpapers display
an entire dragon with parts labeled (forked tongue, sharp back toe, etc.). The
children engaged in this artistic enterprise are brown-skinned and
black-haired, pink-skinned and red-haired, and the dragons are just as varied,
from versions that are pink with catlike faces to vaguely Chinese-style dragons
in green and orange. The illustrations, while evoking children's own drawings
and collages, are quite sophisticated in their use of texture, photo and
fabric, as well as matte and transparent color. The final pages are a foldout
of P.S. 117's "dragon art show," where all of the drawings are proudly
displayed. The genders of the dragons are indicated by pronouns, so readers
(and artists) are not stuck with a passel of only boy dragons. The rhyme flows
smoothly with its whimsical advice: "Dragon fire has reds and yellows, /
and it's good to toast marshmallows." This rhyming romp will no doubt spur
multiple requests for rereading—and redrawing. (Picture book. 4-8)
I especially like that last line.