Wendy's Favorite Book

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned in a post that Wendy and I were reading "My Father's Dragon," by Ruth Stiles Gannett. We had just started reading the Kindle version, because I had seen it recommended and it was temporarily free. (It's not free anymore, but it's a whopping $.99, so go buy it.) I hadn't ever read it before but it looked interesting, so we began reading before Wendy's nap one day.

We read three chapters in that first sitting, because neither one of us wanted to stop! We had to find out what was going to happen to Elmer! Was he going to take the cat's advice? Would he be discovered on the ship? And most importantly, would he find the dragon?

The book is a simple and sweet adventure story, wherein good triumphs over naughty (I wouldn't say there's real "evil" anywhere in the story), creativity pays off, and quick thinking saves the day. There are ten chapters, and each chapter takes about 5 minutes to read aloud, depending on how much time you spend discussing as you go. The illustrations are fantastic, and are displayed quite clearly on the Kindle version; some Kindle versions of children's books have sacrificed the quality of the illustrations, but this one is really good.

We ended up enjoying the book so much that the day after we finished it, Wendy asked, "Can we please read 'My Father's Dragon' all over again?" I ordered the hardcover version that is pictured, and it has all three stories in the "My Father's Dragon" series in one volume. We've started reading the first story again and plan to read all the way through the series.

It's been a long time since I read a children's chapter book that I fell in love with.

Not a compensated review. I just love the book.