| Title | : | Dragon Was Terrible |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0374300496 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780374300494 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 32 |
| Publication | : | First published August 23, 2016 |
Dragon Was Terrible Reviews
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Ummmmm.
So, this book is about a terrible dragon. And by "terrible," I mean he does stuff like TP the castle and spit on cupcakes.
And he burped in church. Loudly. Honestly, that's terrible AND rude.
??? WTF? Why is a dragon going to church?
The book is also strange because it mixes past and present. For instance, this is supposed to be a Medieval kingdom with princesses, knights, and moats... but there are also Crayola crayons and baby strollers and spray paint cans.
I don't like the illustrations and this book mildly annoys me. For instance, one picture has a unicorn pushing its baby in a baby stroller. ??? WTF?
There are some enjoyable things, for example, the poster the king puts up.
Brave Knights!
Whoever shall tame
the terrible dragon
shall be rewarded
with a gift!
It shall be a nice gift.
Ye shall like it!
- His Royal Majesty, the King.
In graffiti next to the poster, it reads:
"Dragon was here"
LOL
I also dislike the ending to this book. A little boy writes a story about a brave dragon and starts reading it out loud. The dragon likes the story so much, he sits down to listen. THE END.
What? I just... can't.
...Dragon smiled.
And he took a seat beneath the tree with the other children.
Honestly, that's adorable.
I hate this. I... who is narrating this story??!?!! A mom on Twitter or something?
And the "reward" is getting a dragon as a friend. Yeah. He sounds like he'd be a great "friend." Some reward. The king is a lazy, entitled bastard, apparently. You can just tell. Because remember his first poster? After all the knights get defeated, he posts a second one:
Brave People!
Whoever shall tame
the terrible dragon
shall be rewarded
with a gift!
(From the King.)
It shall be a nice gift.
(We hope.)
Ye shall like it!
(Perhaps.)
-His Royal Majesty, the King.
Dude, this is your time to UP your game, not make people really discouraged about helping you. Come on. o.O
Tl;dr - Anyway. Obviously, I am too picky about my children's books, but this just fell flat for me. I'm also getting a LITTLE sick of the message "reading cures everything." And I LOVE books.
Ages 2-6 -
This would have been 5 stars, but the ending fell a bit flat for me. Otherwise, I LOVED everything about this book, and it made me laugh several times. Clever, about the boy and how he tamed the Terrible Dragon.
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What a fun picture book this is! While the dragon in this story is terrible, the awful things he does are pretty funny and will have young readers giggling out loud: pantsing the royal guards, TPing the royal castle, spitting on cupcakes, etc. But rather than giving up, the villagers keep trying to come up with ways to tame the naughty dragon. Finally, one young man comes up with a unique way to win the dragon over. This story could lend itself to writing projects to come up with other stories that could inspire positive changes to solve problems. The humorous illustrations by Greg Pizzoli make this a wonderful book that would be very popular in elementary classroom libraries.
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A terrible dragon - more terrible even than regular dragons - makes himself a great nuisance in this humorous picture-book from author Kelly DiPucchio and illustrator Greg Pizzoli. His various crimes - stealing candy from baby unicorns, stomping on flowers, scribbling on books - lead the king to issue a call for brave knights to come forward to tame him. When this fails, and the dragon's depredations grow worse, the townspeople also take up the call, but all to no avail. It falls to one storytelling boy to solve the problem...
With a conversational narrative full of editorial asides - the narrator often stops to comment on how terrible the dragon's actions are - and colorful artwork that captures both the humor of dragon's actions and the annoyance they cause to the other characters, Dragon Was Terrible is an entertaining book. Not surprisingly, I was charmed by the conclusion, which champions the power of stories and storytelling, as a means of education and conflict resolution. Recommended to young dragon lovers, as well as to anyone looking for children's stories in which the monstrous opponent must be tamed, rather than killed. -
Dragon behaves terribly. He spits on cupcakes, plays tricks on people, and takes candy from baby unicorns. The king and townspeople are very frustrated and angry with the dragon and seek to tame the dragon. But they fail. Only when a young lad uses a story to catch the dragon's attention does it become possible to tame this dragon's terrible behavior. DiPucchio has written a book that would work well for storytimes about dragons, the power of story, and making friends. Pizzoli's adorable illustrations make a nice complement to DiPucchio's great story, especially with fun details like graffiti on the castle walls, and toilet paper draped over the castle. This makes for a fun read that I plan to use with my students to talk about the power of story and kindness. A winner through and through.
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Kelly DiPucchio is not only prolific she is hilarious. I am a fan of all of her works but Dragon Was Terrible may be my new fav. It is laugh out loud funny-a pleasure for children and adults. Definitely a repeat read and one of the funniest and most clever children's picture books that I have read in quite some time. The illustrations are by the super talented and awesome Greg Pizzoli. Love that guy. The art is exactly perfect for the story. Can't wait to see what DiPucchio and Pizzoli come up with next.
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This dragon is a complete and total brat. He even spits on cupcakes, which is terrible and vile (Ariana Grande knows all about this). After everyone in the whole kingdom tries their hand at taming this terrible beast, one little boy has an ingenious idea. This book is cute AF. Greg Pizzoli’s illustrations are a perfect match for Kelly DiPucchio’s prose.
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Loved this!!!! This would be so much fun to read as a storytime. It is interactive and AWESOME!!! I would buy this for myself as well as someone else. What more can I say.
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Dragon is terrible bully, but the amusing narration keeps the story clipping along through his terrible antics and eventual, though not-quite-satisfying happy ending.
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Not all dragons are bad, but this dragon is TERRIBLE. He steals, he burps, and he doesn’t care about anyone but himself! Everyone in the village is desperate to get rid of him but nobody seems able to. Until, one hero comes along with an unusual plan. This story by Kelly DiPucchio is full of ridiculous humor for kiddos and little background gags for the grown-ups to catch as they read through for the hundredth with their their little one. Enjoy this one now by checking out a copy through OverDrive! – Reviewed by Stephanie at MCPL Reading Rocket
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Some of it was predictable and some of it wasn't but it was cute, with a nice message: you don't have to fight to stop someone's bad behavior. Also, books are wonderful; a message I can heartily endorse. :D But, the messages are not heavy handed. The story is humorous, and told in a casual, chatty style.
I read this with my class of one and two year olds, and it was too long for them. I think it would work well for children in preschool, kindergarten, or early elementary. -
My four year old loved talking about what dragon was doing wrong - Stealing candy! Stomping flowers! - along with the solution to dragon's terribleness. The muted color palette and illustrations are also adorable.
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This book is perfect. A simple text combined with simple and charming illustrations make a story that left me in giggles. And besides, Dragon gets a redemption arc. So, if you loved The Reluctant Dragon, you'll also adore this one.
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Love the humorous comments about dragon's poor manners. It would have been nice to see the villagers make a bit more progress than the knights did, though having the child triumph in the end, especially through reading, is a sweet victory.
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Adorable!
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Seemed to take a bit too long to get to the resolution, but it was entertaining and funny all the way through, so it's forgivable. I love Pizzoli's drawings as usual.
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Easily one of the cutest books I have ever read.
I might actually need to own this! -
A perfect read aloud because it is so doggone funny.
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Opening #1
“Raise your hand if you have ever read a story with a dragon in it before? [students respond] What kinds of things did the dragon do in your story? [students respond] What is another word for terrible? [students respond] so is the dragon in our story a good guy or a bad guy? [students respond] Well let’s find out how terrible this dragon is!
o Ask children to make connections to a previously read text
o Tell the meaning of a key word
o Raise questions to spark curiosity
Making connections with this book and other books they've read is a great way to get children interested in the story. If they liked that story then hopefully they will get excited about this story too! Making sure they understand the meaning of key words ensures that they will understand the main idea and theme of story. Getting students interested in a book before you even open it and start reading is a fun way of teasing their curiosity and getting them excited for the book we are about to read.
Opening #2 (Dragon was Terrible)
[Show both front and back cover & Read the back cover] What do you think the setting is for this story? Remember setting is where but it’s also when. [Students respond] Do you notice anything about the text I read? Was it how I normally speak or read? [students respond] This author made sure that the language and voice that he used through out the story would match up with his setting. The narrator will still speak normally but all the words being said and written by a character will sound kinda funny but that’s part of the fun of this book! Are castles and knights and kings real? Are dragons real? [students respond]
o Draw attention to the setting
o Draw attention to the language of the text
o Make a connection to background information
These opening moves are helpful for my students because understanding the setting will help make the book more enjoyable and fun. Recognizing the fun text and language will also help them understand the tone of the book. And of course making connections to what we are reading is always a good and helpful thing for students to do. It gets them more invested in reading.
Opening #3 (Dragon was Terrible)
Does anyone know what genre this might be? [students respond] Fantasy is right! A dragon that is terrible doesn’t really exist. Turn to your knees-to-knees partner and tell them why you think the dragon might be terrible [students turn and respond]. There is an unlikely hero in this story. This hero thinks outside of the box to help their town. What does it mean to think outside of the box? [students respond] Let’s find out why this dragon is so terrible and how the hero saves the town.
o Draw attention to the genre
o Prompt a prediction
o Clarify some words for better understanding of the book
Having my students make a prediction will encourage them to invest in the story and stay engaged as they try and see if they were right about their predictions. Knowing the genre helps them better understand the story and what is going on. And understanding the words and their meanings will give them a clear idea of what is happening in the story as well. -
“Dragon was Terrible. Naturally, dragons have a bit of terrible in them because they’re dragons after all. But THIS dragon? Super terrible.” What makes something terrible? [have children respond, listing terrible things] The dragon in this book is terrible, he does things like stealing candy from baby unicorns! Isn’t that just terrible? Let’s turn the page and see if anyone can tame this terrible dragon.
(Read some of the text to engage attention) By reading the first lines, it helps the children pay attention to the words.
(Prompt hypothesizing based on the situation)/ (Foreshadows the problem of the story) Having the children list bad things the dragon could do has them hypothesize what could happen in the story. It also foreshadows the problem in the story, the dragon doing terrible things. -
This fun to read story is about a dragon who crushes flowers and makes baby unicorns cry (honestly, that's terrible). The dragon is defeated by a boy who wins him over by reading a story about brave dragons and evil knights. I love the humor. My just turned 3 year old enjoys this, but an older child will get the humor more. We'll definitely get this one again.
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Fun book, I think it will be a good crossover for my older storytime kiddos and the wee wee ones - humorous and a little odd, but well-structured. Plus I'm a sucker for a story about a dragon making friends, and a book that includes a built-in promo for storytime. (Spoiler alert: you tame a terrible dragon by reading him a suspenseful story.)
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If you're like, "Oh, cute! A kid's book about being rude, how rude could this dragon possibly get?":
He spits on someone's cupcake.
Then he
steals
a baby
unicorn's
candy.
This dragon is a total jerk. -
I read this in very much the same vein as "Dragons Love Tacos." The humor felt similar. I enjoyed that reading ultimately saved the day :)
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Pretty cute, and I think a good fit for rambunctious kids who don't mean to be naughty but end up doing it a lot anyway (which is probably a pretty large percentage).
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This is a fun and funny book about a dragon!
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Honestly, this book is amazing (and hilarious). Great for any age. Will save for a future storytime.
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Loved the idea that it was finally a book that tamed the dragon.
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Behold the power of books with this silly and cute story about a terrible dragon.
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4.5
Dragon is rude and disrespectful. He scribbles in books and burps in church! Who will tame this unruly beast? What will it take? This little book made me smile.
