Melric and The Dragon

At first, the children's reaction to the sight of this book was delight. They immediately recognised David McKee's style of illustration and, since they very much like King Rollo, were all ready to welcome this. However, Melric is a quite different cauldron of spells from the childlike and simple King and the point of this story was simply lost on them. This is not to say that it isn't an excellent book ... I enjoyed it very much, and so would many an older child. It is wasted to some extent on very young children. In order to 'get' the story, you need to understand a page like this: 'Did you hear about the little boy who left his toys all over his room? When his mother came in she said, "There are toys everywhere." "Not everywhere," said the boy. "There are none in the toy cupboard." "Thank you, Kra," said Melric. Now he knew where to hide the dragon. My children just couldn't understand the joke and it spoils a story to have to explain to totally uncomprehending faces why it is supposed to be funny! We did enjoy the pictures, though, and several children tried hard with reading the book because they love dragons. But I should have waited for another year or two.