Leo Timmers, Where is the Dragon?, Gecko Press, March 2021, 40 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781776573127
I’m a sucker for picture books about dragons, and Where is the Dragon? had me smiling the whole way, with an out-loud chuckle or three for good measure. The king sends out his brave knights to Save the realm! But mainly me from a terrible, nightmare dragon, and the three knights venture into the darkness to find the dragon. What they find might be a little less intimidating.
I can’t go past the delightful artwork in this book. The three knights are just so darn cute, and the colouring and texture is at once richly touchable and simple, focusing the attention on the careful patches of colour and the deep black shadow outlines for contrast. Of course, the shadows that look so much like huge dragons in the darkness are nothing of the sort, and the smallest knight sees them for what they really are. There would be a lot of fun with a young reader trying to guess what the shadows might really be – I bet you won’t guess them first time!
There are some adorable details, like the rats, that made me smile, and I loved the rare glimpses that the reader is given of the king. For someone that we never see in full, and only in a couple of frames, there is a lot of character there and the last image had me laughing out loud when I took it all in.
The text is simple without being simplistic, and while there are some bigger words, I don’t believe that a young reader would trip over them, particularly if they are being read to them. This is a good story to stretch vocabulary just a little, with rhyming couplets that make it fun to read out loud. The repetition, particularly with the third knight’s responses, would be excellent for little readers to pick up predictive patterns. Where is the Dragon? would be an excellent picture book for reading aloud with little ones from 2 to 4 years old and would make a lovely next step along from the That’s Not My board book series, or in a book list including Custard the Dragon and the Lynley Dodd books.
Have fun with it. I know I did.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
