My Father's Dragon Series (Set of THREE Books: My Father's Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, and the Dragons of Blueland) (My Father's Dragon) [Paperback] Ruth Stiles Gannett

This is one of the books I regularly give the kids I know when they get to ~6-7. My 2nd grade teacher read this to our class, it has stayed with me a long time. The story reads like a fairytale with very matter of fact language & pacing. The ways Elmer outwits the animals on Wild Island are very charming - he's just really smart and brave, so he can beat a rhino with toothpaste and a lion with a hairbrush. It's so imaginative and akin to kids playing "pretend". Also, there are SO MANY illustrations. I remember loving them when I was a kid but I had forgotten just how many there are! There's at least one full page illustration, too (the tigers). They are very timeless and there are so many animals and they're all drawn great. Of course as a kid, you're most interested in the Animals and the DRAGON and, usually, books will not have enough of either. But not this one, there's practically a picture every third page. You can have a lot of fun reading this together.

This series was read to me as a boy by my dad and I had the joy of reading these to my 4 year old. He loved the story and would beg every night for another chapter. Except for the night we read about the mean gorilla. Otherwise, he was delighted and cared deeply for Elmer and Boris. I plan on reading these stories to our next child when they are the right age.

Love these books so much and so does my kindergartener. These are a great first chapter book. There are so many truly awful books and these are just a gem. I love reading them aloud!

Great set, my boys love these books. Great for the imagination.

These are wonderful children's stories and I found them better than the recent film. I'm sorry there weren't more in the series, but I will look up the author's other works.

Great book series

This series, which has been around for decades, is a great way to begin reading "chapter books" to young ones. They will keep asking you to read more at the end of each chapter.

My 5 yr old and I love these books. They’re a great in-between for a new reader who is beyond the “mat sat on the cat” books, but isn’t quite ready for first chapter books. She follows along easily as I read. The storyline, rhythm, and details are all wonderful. This printing is awful. The illustrations are barely there, like they’ve been bleached in the sun. Some of the words are off-printed, and the covers aren’t crisp. I wish we’d just grabbed these from the library. This printing isn’t worth owning. I wouldn’t recommend.

My grandmother read me these decades ago, I read them to all my children, and now to my grandchildren. Wondrous imagination, great stories for children, beautiful illustrations. One of the children's books an adult can enjoy reading for the 57th time!