The Dragonbreath series by Ursula Vernon is a series of stories about a young mythical dragon living in a town full of reptiles and amphibians. Unlike other dragons, Danny cannot breathe fire, which causes some trouble for him at school. Some of his classmates do not believe he is a real mythical dragon due to his inability to produce fire. He also has a hard time doing his homework, but when an opportunity arises to redo his science paper on oceans, he travels to the ocean with his best friend Wendell to visit his sea serpent uncle. Danny and Wendell encounter many adventures while in the ocean, including a shark and a giant squid! In the end, Danny gains enough information based on his experiences to write an A paper on the ocean. He even gains the courage to stand up to the school bully. Dragonbreath is a graphic novel both written and illustrated by Ursula Vernon. This book was easy to read and very entertaining. There was an even distribution of both graphics and words that allowed the reader to follow along and visualize the story. I really enjoyed the speech bubbles and the expressiveness of the characters in the illustrations. The graphics allowed the reader to enter into Danny Dragonbreath’s mind and world. The green tint of all the images supported the reptile and amphibian characters, because normally, you would think of them being green. The underwater graphics when the two young boys travel to the ocean allows the reader to expand their perception of what the ocean should look like. One of the things I particularly enjoyed about this novel was the educational information included. I would definitely encourage my young students to read this novel to learn more about oceanic creatures. By reading this novel, I have learned about different animals and parts of the ocean. I also like the inclusion of mythical creatures throughout the story. The use of these characters makes the story more appealing to a young, elementary aged audience. This book could definitely be used as an introduction to both reptiles and ocean life. Jake (8) loved this book. He carried it everywhere with him and "read" it. I know he didn't read most of it due to the complex vocabulary that, at times, stumped me. But he loved it and is looking forward to the second book in the series. I liked it too. The story of a dragon who can't breathe fire in a world of non-mythical creatures and doesn't like to do his homework, dives into the sea to learn about ocean creatures from a first hand perspective. My issues? While reading this out loud I found myself correcting or editing the sentences to be more concise and worded better. Some of the sentences just didn't roll off the tongue and I felt my natural editor inside fixing them as I read. Still, we'll read the next in the series and probably continue through. I'm hoping the next book(s) will be written better.
What do You think about Dragonbreath (2009)?
So funny! I love reading these with the kids :)
—makayela
