Dragon Tales - Dav Pilkey - ★★★★.¼

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AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Dav Pilkey
SERIES: The Dragon Tales
GENRE: Children's Fiction
PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 1991.
RATING: 4.2 stars.


In a Nutshell: A collection of three cute chapter books featuring a dragon with a big heart and a bumbling mind. Quite entertaining. Lovely illustrations as well. Recommended!


I knew Dav Pilkey as the creator of some of the silliest and funniest children’s book series with hilarious characters such as Captain Underpants, Dog Man and Cat Kid. My younger daughter is a big fan of his stories. So when my GR friend Darla added this book to her shelf, I knew I had to read it too. And what a fun experience it has been!

Each of Pilkey’s Dragon stories is a chapter book featuring a loveable blue dragon named… well… Dragon. We can see right away that he has a large heart that longs for company, but after a few pages, it also becomes clear that his common sense is inversely proportional to his heart. 😅 It is funny to see him goofing along, and also heartwarming to see him always come out on top despite the stumbles.

The story is divided across five chapters and written in simple text in a large font size. None of the pages are densely packed with text, making these books perfect for beginner independent readers who have just transitioned to chapter books.

This book collects three of Dragon’s Chapter Books in a single volume:

1. A Friend for Dragon: where our lonely lead makes an unusual new friend and teaches us several things about friendship. This has one slightly upsetting scene though. I am not sure how little readers will take it but it could go either way. - ⭐⭐⭐

2. Dragon Gets By: where Dragon wakes up in a groggy mood and somehow gets through the day, though not very successfully. As someone who is equally groggy on most mornings, I loved this story best! 😅- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

3. Dragon’s Fat Cat: where Dragon finally finds a friend to offer him genuine company. I wasn’t a big fan of the adjective ‘fat’ being used to describe the cat, but there’s a reason for the same, so I can let this slide. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨


The back matter contains a lot of interesting content such as situational questions based on the three stories and a step-by-step tutorial on how to draw Dragon.

Overall, this is a fun set of stories. Children are sure to enjoy at least the second and third books. While the prime focus of the tales is on entertainment, they still offer several important points to discuss and ponder upon.

Definitely recommended. This would be great for kids aged 4-8 years.

4.2 stars, based on the average of my rating for each story.

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