A Friend for Dragon: An Acorn Book (Dragon #1) (1)

Heart warming character this fellow

cute books fun to read

We purchased this for my 2nd grader who loves dragons. She had plateaued in reading abilities until we recently found out she's far-sighted. Now that she has glasses, she is delighting in being able to look through books. We love the Acorn line of books because it has the "big kid" feel of a chapter book for readers who aren't quite ready for the longer Branches books. The straightforward text builds confidence while also introducing some new words to build skill. My daughter loves the cute illustrations of the Acorn books she's read (unicorn and yeti, dragon). She also loves the silly storylines. Yes the story has some sad elements - dragon is lonely which prompts him to find a friend, dragon's friend apple is eaten. These did not bother my daughter, who thinks it's hilarious that he has an apple as a friend. She giggled when dragon tried to give apple food. And she excitedly showed me "look mama, someone *eats* apple! And he becomes a tree!" She enjoys reading it. She loves that she can read "a whole chapter!" The funny characters motivate her to read for longer stretches. The silly stories encourage engagement. To her, this isn't a sad story. It is a very silly story with a happy ending. She has experienced death in our close family, we have books on grief for kids, she has been in child grief groups. At no point did this book trigger any feelings of sadness. So I think different kids may get different things out of the book, and parents should be mindful of the content. For our family, this book is a silly tale.

Subtle kindness that describes the cycle of life in a sweet and gentle way. The pictures and the words help tell the story. When I taught 1st and 2nd grade, the Dragon and Big Dog, Little Dog series were my favorite.

My son absolutely loves these little books!! They’re perfect for bedtime, cuz they’re not too long, but they’ve got 4 little stories in them that are just adorable and cute and just perfect for bedtime reading!!