Do You like book My Father's Dragon (2005)?
In the third grade, I met Mrs. Palombi, my favorite teacher ever. She taught us how to churn butter (you sit in a circle, pass around a bottle of heavy cream that everyone takes a turn shaking up, and spread the resulting curds on Ritz crackers), she brought a cotton candy machine to the Fall Festival (during the summer, she ran a beach shack that sold summer treats) and let you “roll your own” as big as you wanted, and every holiday she’d present us with little pins she crocheted herself to commemorate the occasion (a Jack O’ Lantern for Halloween, Santa for Christmas, a shamrock for St. Patrick’s day…). More than her big bubble of candyfloss bleachblonde hair and her Savage Tan, I remember her gravelly Virginia Slims voice.Near the end of every school day, before the bell rang, Mrs. Palombi would turn the lights off, have us put our heads down and read to us from My Father’s Dragon, Mr. Popper’s Penguins and James and the Giant Peach. All three are favorites of mine, but I’m pimping Dragon first because it seems a bit more obscure.Part of the reason that I’ve always liked the book is Ruth Stiles Gannett’s clever, sweet-tempered story, and the fact that it has some of the most charming illustrations I’ve ever seen—drawn by her step-mother, Ruth Chrisman Gannett. (My favorite is the one they generally use as the cover, which has always kind of tickled me – the book is called My Father’s Dragon, but the cover features a dandy Lion and no dragon to be seen. The endpage map of the islands is also especially adorable.)The “father” of the title is one Elmer Elevator, polite, cool under fire, and an absolute sweetheart in a jaunty little cap. He makes friends with an alley cat who tells him about a baby dragon being held captive on Wild Island. Elmer resolves to rescue the dragon, and with the cat’s sage advice, carefully packs for his trip. With a little planning and an inventive spirit, Elmer sidesteps all manner of hazards (for example, menacing tigers can be placated with chewing gum and a little stretching of the truth—Elmer’s basically a kinder, gentler MacGuyver) and saves the day. If you have children of your own, or just dig patently endearing adventure stories, I can’t recommend My Father’s Dragon enough.
—Dawn Marie
I got a copy of this book to read with my five year old son. It is a very fun and clever children’s read with some great lessons and some wonderful illustrations.When Elmer Elevator hears about the plight of a poor overworked baby dragon from an old neighborhood cat he is determined to save the dragon. He travels to Wild Island and, through a series of crazy events, saves the dragon from the animals keeping it prisoner.This book was first published in 1948 and I am amazed at how well it has aged. The writing is fairly simple and is definitely at a younger level but it still made for an excellent story. There are a couple spots where the language is a bit archaic but not many.Elmer Elevator encounters a number of less than friendly animals and for each encounter he finds a clever (and sometimes hilarious) way to distract the animals. For example he gives the rhino a toothbrush and toothpaste for his very dirty horn and he gives the tigers chewing gum. It was great fun to see how Elmer would combat the next group of animals.Additionally all the lands have wonderfully fun names. Elmer lives in the land of Popsicornia and travels through Tangerina (known for its tangerines) to get to Wild Island. Elmer uses cleverness instead of violence or force to get through his adventures. He also frees the poor baby dragon from slavery. All while eating tangerines. The only part of the story parents might object to is the fact that Elmer runs away from his parents at the age of nine to do all of this.My son loved this book and immediately wanted to start on the second book of the trilogy, Elmer and the Dragon. The pictures throughout are fun and wonderfully done. They match the tone of the story excellently.Overall a wonderful fantasy read for children. This is a chapter book but is written at a lower reading level that is easy for younger children (5+) to understand even if they can’t quite read it yet. Elmer uses cleverness and humor to survive his noble adventure. The wonderful pictures only add to the excellent story. Highly recommended to read with kids, especially those interested in adventure and fantasy.
—Karissa
I missed this gem as a kid. My own boys laughed aloud a few times and begged for more. We'll be going on in the series for sure. It was well-written and entertaining. Unlike some other reviewers, I was not taken with the narration. I thought the repetitious use of "my father" was a bit distracting and annoying. One of my boys actually asked me why I kept saying it as I was reading. I had to stop and explain. He then asked why the narrator didn't just call him Elmer. So for the rest of the story, that's just what I did! And I'm noticing that so many children's books either have dead or absent parents or runaway kids. I get that it's interesting to kids, but it's a little unsettling at the same time. This one bothered me less because of the clearly unrealistic setting, but still worth mentioning.
—sprout