Product Description

Once They All Believed In Dragons

Once they all believed in dragons
When the world was fresh and young,
We were woven into legends,
Tales were told and songs were sung,
We were treated with obeisance,
We were honored, we were feared,
Then one day they stopped believing--
On that day, we disappeared.

Now they say our time is over,
Now they say we've lived our last,
Now we're treated with derision
Where we once ruled unsurpassed.
We must make them all remember,
In some way we must reveal
That our spirit lives forever--
We are dragons! We are real!

"An excellent collection....Prelutsky and Sis...bring to life so many sorts of dragons: the large, the small, the ferocious, the technological, the gentle, the ominous, and the disconsolate. There's a `just right' quality to the verse that makes it a pleasure to read the words aloud. Their sounds fit together with seamless craftsmanship and their sense rewards listeners with humor, imagination, and occasional poignancy....Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't siton the shelf for long."--Booklist.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #278277 in Books
• Published on: 1993-09-15
• Released on: 1993-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

Amazon.com Review
"If you don't believe in dragons, / It is curiously true / That the dragons you disparage / Choose to not to believe in you," matter-of-factly claims America's premiere children's poet Jack Prelutsky. Dragons aren't all the same, of course--some are amiable, some are disconsolate, and some are downright nasty. Here Prelutsky, who has written over 30 books of poetry for children, turns his considerable talents to the subject of dragons--a secret dragon, a thunder dragon, a mechanical dragon, even a lazy dragon who likes to sleep all day. The 17 poems range from the whimsical to the scary, but all reflect Prelutsky's incomparable flair for rhythm and humor. The fabulous fire-breathers are illustrated in all their irresistible splendor by award-winning artist Peter Sis. The sophisticated style of his large oil paintings is complemented by his trademark borders in antique gold, giving the pages an Old World look. If you don't believe in dragons then you need this book, because the magical combination of art and poetry will make you and your kids believers. If you listen closely, you might even hear the dragons singing tonight: "We are dragons! We are real!" Text © 1993 by Jack Prelutsky. Illustrations © 1993 by Peter Sis. Permission by Greenwillow Books.) (Ages 5 to 9) --Marcie Bovetz

From Publishers Weekly
Prelutsky ( Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast ) and Sis ( An Ocean World ; Komodo! ) outdo themselves with this fanciful series of poems about dragons. Prelutsky wrings a range of surprising verse from a seemingly limited theme. Stock images get a face-lift: in "A Dragon's Lament," for example, the narrator declares, "I'm tired of being a dragon, / Ferocious and brimming with flame, / The cause of unspeakable terror / When anyone mentions my name." An unerring sense for rhythm lends punch to the light verse, while more atmospheric selections, like the title poem, conjure up a fantasy world, where dragons come out of their lairs and "sing of their exploits of old / Of maidens and knights, and of fiery fights / And guarding vast caches of gold." Sis adds a new depth to Prelutsky's poetry. The artist's trademark antique gold borders enclose dramatically colored full-spread oil and gouache paintings. Old-fashioned imagery collides happily with whimsy: a Tenniel-style girl "walks" her leashed dragons, which soar in the air like kites; an ailing scaly dragon, reclining in its fairy-tale-like stone house, sips from tanks of gasoline; a goggle-wearing pilot in an open-air cockpit steers a mechanical dragon made from charmingly low-tech components (an umbrella serves as propellor). An enchanted pairing. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4-A combination of author, illustrator, and subject that is certain to have a great deal of appeal. Dragons are verbally and visually portrayed in this collection with wonder, whimsy, and a touch of wistfulness. The 17 poems are presented on large double-page spreads with a delightful juxtaposition of the ancient and modern, real and imaginary. Gold tones appear throughout with the addition of symbols and images from the poems in the border frames. The oil and gouache paintings on a gesso background have marvelous details and unexpected bursts of humor. Although not all of the entries have Prelutsky's rollicking read-aloud quality, the richness of his language and the playfulness of the imagination are abundant; and Sis's illustrations are charmingly unique, sometimes deceptively simple, and certainly filled with the kind of playful wizardry that invites viewers to return again and again to these pages.-Kay E. Vandergrift, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

An excellent 4-year old book.
Our 4-year old loved this book. Lots of different personalities and voices. His favorite was Boom and he walks around the house pretending to be Boom. The drawings are excellent and complex enough to get our son to ask questions about why the dragon has trees growing on him, etc.

This is poetry to inspire children & adults alike.
I took a chance on Jack Prelutsky's gifted poetry and read this book to my son's 2nd Grade class, instead of a run-of-the-mill story. The children were enthralled. They really longed for the world to have dragons again, real or otherwise. Never mind that some of the vocabulary was a bit sophisticated for them (My Dragon's Been Disconsolate), they wanted to hear every poem, not just those I'd selected for them. My son returns to the book to gaze at Peter Sis' whimsical illustrations and read the poetry over again every so often. I peek over his shoulder each time!

Love this book
I had a soft copy for my two kids and they trashed it from use. I was thinking about it when we decided to theme the office programming area the "Dragon's Lair". So I bought two copies, one for my daughter and one for our artist. My daughter immediately remembered the book and it is now read 1-2 times a week for her. My artist draws dragons for fun so she is about as happy as my daughter!