Dragolin

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Synopsis

Dragolin is a short, plump, little dragon who is unable to breath fire no matter how hard he tries. But he's befriended by an armadillo who teaches him the importance of believing in himself, while not trying to do things he wasn't made to do.

Review

Dragolin is a children's picture book in the Seredipity book series, each of which teaches kids important life lessons. It's about a short, plump, little dragon who can't breath fire or even make smoke. The other dragons leave him alone, because his attempts to create fire are very funny and they don't want to hurt his feelings by laughing. Then one day, along comes an armadillo who can't help but roll around in amusement over this, making Dragolin sad. But the armadillo decides to help Dragolin by telling him that the secret to accomplishing something is believing in yourself. Dragolin takes this advice a little too far, trying things that no dragon can do, until the armadillo gently corrects him and helps him find success.

I recall that when I first came across a copy of this book at a library sale, I absolutely couldn't resist the adorable picture on the cover. This turned out to be a really sweet story. Little Dragolin is so sad that he can't make fire, but with help from the armadillo, he learns to believe in himself and eventually succeeds. The story has a great message for kids about believing in one's ability to do something, but not pushing yourself to do things you weren't made to do. As I mentioned, it was the cover that drew me to the book and all the illustrations are just as cute and whimsical, complementing the story well while eliciting emotions from readers. Dragolin is just too adorable for words. The sweet pictures might draw the interest of younger readers, and the story is perfectly appropriate if an adult reads aloud to them. However, the text is written in paragraphs with a little more challenging vocabulary that would probably be better suited to older kids in the second to fourth grade range who are able to read more independently. Overall, this is a great book with a lovely morality lesson that I think kids will enjoy.

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Stephen Cosgrove

Robin James