It’s Mei Lin’s birthday at school. After the teacher reads a book about dragons, the students head to the art room to make decorations for the birthday celebration. Mei Lin shouts, “Look at me! I’m Birthday Dragon!” Each child contributes an element to the dragon, “boink-boink eyes,” “a dragon-fire nose,” “a long, long, long tail.” Then the dragon comes to life as the children step inside the costume and go “stomp, bomp-tromping away” to outdoor recess. In a fantasy sequence, the dragon climbs, meanders, and swims, through mountains, forests, and oceans, until recess is over and the children run inside for Birthday Dragon’s snack!

The illustrations are colorful and feature multi-cultural children of all races. The brush strokes are broad and flowing, reminiscent of Chinese brush painting. This comparison is most apparent in pages that feature the Birthday Dragon’s imaginary adventures.

The text is full of onomatopoeias, which makes it a fun book to read out loud. Although the plot isn’t very developed and there’s really no conflict, the playful text and illustrations will appeal to younger children.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-72-dragon-dancing-by-carole-lex...

A group of children read a book about dragons with their teacher and then create a dance to perform for the class. ( )

Carole Schaefer and Pierr Morgan team up again to create Dragon Dancing, a lively story about Mei Lin's birthday celebration. Prompted by a story their teacher read about dragons, the children in her classroom are inspired to create their own dragon. Capturing the powerful imagination of young children, the bright and colorful images combined with an uplifting storyline make this multicultural adventure lots of fun.

Ages 3 and up.

For more on Carol Sschaefer: http://www.clschaefer.com/

For more on Pierr Morgan: http://www.pierrmorgan.com/books/books.htm ( )

Genre ~ Realistic Fiction ~ This is definetly a realistic fiction story. The things that happen in this story can happen anywhere at anytime. It is a good book to use for a transition into a craft or literary unit. Very believable and authentic.

Setting ~ The illustrations are beautiful and do a great job of setting the scene for the readers. We know that this takes place in a classroom and that it is one student's birthday celebration. The kids pretend that they are dragon dancing all over the world, and at those times the descriptions and illustrations match nicely.

Media ~ Tempera ( )