Raising Dragons Written By: Jerdine Nolan and Illustrated By: Elise Primavera

Nolan, J. (1998). Raising Dragons. Harcourt Brace.

Author Jerdine Nolen visited our school last year, and she gave a wonderful presentation via the LCD projector showing her thought processes and project development. She is someone who solely writes, and her books have been illustrated by a variety of people, so there is no distinct “Nolen” look to a book, similar to Cynthia Rylant’s many book selections. I particularly like how the end pages of the book give an additional hint to the fantasy that is about to unfold within the text of the story, by drawing a map of “Dragon Island” from “Murdoch’s Adventure Atlas of the Known and Unknown World.” Even the shades of color and speckling of paint give it mystery and substance that draws the curious reader into the setting.

In this particular story, a little girl lives on a farm with her Ma and Pa and discovers a mysterious egg. Although her Pa forbids her to bother with it, she finds that on a sleepless night when she goes to check it out again, that a little dragon was born from that egg. I find it endearing when she decides she loves him at first sight.

“Hey there, li’l feller, welcome to the world,” I sang, soft and low. As I stroked his nose, a sweet little purring whimper came from him. As I touched skin to scale, I knew I was his girl and he was my dragon. I named him Hank.”

This is one of those stories where the child, as the main character, approaches a situation with wide open curiosity and embraces the new situation with a positive, happy response, while the adults go through fear of the unknown, then choosing to ignore the presence of this creature that has interrupted life as they have known it. The special bond continues to develop between the dragon and the girl as he grows in size. The value of the dragon’s help begins to surface as Pa notices a “strangeness” occurring around the farm. Hank has shown he can pull his weight by plowing the fields as a surprise for Pa, and saves Ma’s tomatoes from drying out by fanning them to keep them cool. It’s through these actions that Ma and Pa come around to appreciating him. Later on, Hank helps to pop a multitude of corn into a sky full of popcorn. What kid wouldn't want to be a part of that illustration in real life?

As he grows up, the little girl realizes that it’s best to have Hank live with his own kind where he originates from, and bids him farewell. Before her departure on the plane, Hank loads a wheelbarrow full of eggs for her to take back and nurture on the farm. I like the line, “His toothy grin lit up that cloudy day.” It gives the sad moment a happy ray of sun that leaves the reader satisfied for all involved in the story as it continues beyond the end of the text.