All children should have more dragons in their lives, right? Of course right!

Lovabye Dragon by Barbara Joosse. Illustrated by Randy Cecil.

Lovabye Dragon is an oddly sweet picture book. It starts on an unusually sad note – a girl in a castle (never called a princess, but who could be one) who cries and cries because she wants a dragon of her own. She cries a silver stream of tears, which finds its way to the cave of a dragon who wants a girl, and is able to follow the tears back to her. Finally together, they are immediately fast friends and have a wonderful time together before snuggling up for bedtime. It’s rare for picture books to start on such a sad note, rare for a dragon book to have a girl rather than a boy as the protagonist. This is a story of friendship rather than dragon adventure, a story of finding your heart’s desire. It’s illustrated with angular, chalky-looking oil paintings, filled with personality despite their muted colors. The language is lyrical and poetic without being forced into rhymes, making this a perfect bedtime story for boys and girls ages two and up.

Here’s another favorite dragon picture book, The Knight Who Took All Day, from when my son first discovered dragons and knights.