Kenny & the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi


DiTerlizzi, Tony. Kenny & the Dragon. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers,2008. 151 pages. $15.99 ISBN 9781416939771

Plot Summary: Kenny is a rabbit who lives with his parents on a farm just outside of Roundbrook. Kenny is a voracious reader and has a deal with the owner of the town bookstore that lets Kenny borrow books as long as he returns them in perfect condition. Grahame is a good-natured dragon who also loves to read. He doesn't like the non-sense written about dragons, but instead of getting angry he likes to prove how kind and smart he is. When the town learns that a dragon is living on Kenny's farm they call on the town's retired knight to slay the dragon.

Critical Evaluation: This is such a cute book. The combination of Kenny's kindness, Grahame's intellectual personality and the illustrations make this book a joy to read. The reader will be hooked, anxiously wondering if the town kills Grahame in the end.

Reader's Annotation: Kenny and his friend Grahame, a dragon, must show the town of Roundbrook that dragons aren't as scary as they think.

Author Bio: Tony DiTerlizzi is the co-author of The Spiderwick Chronicles with Holly Black. His artistic childhood, Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, and his forays in Dungeons and Dragons have inspired much of his work, especially on The Spiderwick Chronicles and Kenny and the Dragon. He graduated from art school in graphic design and went on to work for the company that is responsible for Dungeons and Dragons. After moving to New York City, he decided to write and illustrate books, his first book published in 2000. Now Tony lives with his wife an daughter in Amherst, MA.

Genre: Fantasy

Curriculum Ties: A good choice when talking about fairy tales, to give an example of a modern fairy tale.

Booktalking Ideas: Talk about the usual characteristics of dragons: fire spitting, terrorizing villages, eating people. Then talk about how that is all wrong and Kenny and Grahame are determined to prove it.

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 3-6, Ages 8-12

Challenges: None.

Reason for including: I'm a fan of The Spiderwick Chronicles, of which he is the partial-author. Also, the illustrations caught me.

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