Dragon Fire

For older infants or lower juniors, I think, this is more of an early novel and demands a fair degree of stamina from independent readers (although it is printed in clear type and well broken, by pictures and chapters, into manageable and undaunting chunks). I found that younger children were not as interested as I expected in listening to the story. The dragon catches a bad cold and is therefore unable to cook his breakfast. His search for both breakfast and a cure is told in quite adult language and with sophistication but somehow without the warmth that would have made it accessible to the children in my class. And they could make no sense of 'a shoulder of mutton'! Older, more worldly-wise children would enjoy this book, however. It is original and amusing enough for the more mature reader and the format invites the less confident.