by Ute Krause
40 pages; ages 4-8
North-South, 2010 (English translation)
I love tales of dragons, so I just had to read this one. Even if it has been on shelves for a few years.
The story begins before the title page...
"Imagine a very dangerous dragon. Like this." Only... five times as dangerous and wa-a-ay bigger... and now, once you've imagined it, you can turn the page.
Traditionally, every year, the people feed the Very Hungry Dragon a princess. But this year the kingdom is all out of princesses. So the people do what people in all sorts of books do: they hold a lottery.
Oscar's name is chosen, and he heads up the tall, tall mountain to the dragon's lair. But Oscar has no intention of becoming a meal. First, he tells the dragon that he's too small to eat, and needs fattening up to make a real meal. When the dragon wants to see if Oscar's getting plump, the kid borrows a trick from "Hansel & Gretel". Of course, fattening up means that Oscar needs to cook, so he writes out shopping lists for the dragon. I don't want to spoil the ending except to say it is FUN! and it reminds me a lot of Patricia Wreade's "Dealing With Dragons".
Review copy provided by the publisher.
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