Horn Book
This book is irresistible.
Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
Prelutsky ( Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast ) and Sis ( An Ocean World ; Komodo! ) outdo themselves with this fanciful series of poems about dragons. Prelutsky wrings a range of surprising verse from a seemingly limited theme. Stock images get a face-lift: in ``A Dragon's Lament,'' for example, the narrator declares, ``I'm tired of being a dragon, / Ferocious and brimming with flame, / The cause of unspeakable terror / When anyone mentions my name.'' An unerring sense for rhythm lends punch to the light verse, while more atmospheric selections, like the title poem, conjure up a fantasy world, where dragons come out of their lairs and ``sing of their exploits of old / Of maidens and knights, and of fiery fights / And guarding vast caches of gold.'' Sis adds a new depth to Prelutsky's poetry. The artist's trademark antique gold borders enclose dramatically colored full-spread oil and gouache paintings. Old-fashioned imagery collides happily with whimsy: a Tenniel-style girl ``walks'' her leashed dragons, which soar in the air like kites; an ailing scaly dragon, reclining in its fairy-tale-like stone house, sips from tanks of gasoline; a goggle-wearing pilot in an open-air cockpit steers a mechanical dragon made from charmingly low-tech components (an umbrella serves as propellor). An enchanted pairing. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)
Children's Literature
- Susie Wilde
Now, while Jurassic Park sweeps the country, poet Jack Prelutsky turns his talents to different lizards in The Dragons Are Singing Tonight. While the movie uses technology to work its magic, Prelutsky uses a similarly fantastic technology of words to amaze and delight readers from six to twelve. Dragons are special to Prelutsky. Through years of going into Chinese restaurants and reading their place mats, he noticed that he was born in a year of the dragon, he took the dragon to heart. Prelutsky grew up in the Bronx with an asthmatic mother who wouldn't allow pets and dreamed of having his own dragon... a small one, of course, that he could manage and train. Some of the poems reveal his boyhood dream.
School Library Journal
Gr 1-4-A combination of author, illustrator, and subject that is certain to have a great deal of appeal. Dragons are verbally and visually portrayed in this collection with wonder, whimsy, and a touch of wistfulness. The 17 poems are presented on large double-page spreads with a delightful juxtaposition of the ancient and modern, real and imaginary. Gold tones appear throughout with the addition of symbols and images from the poems in the border frames. The oil and gouache paintings on a gesso background have marvelous details and unexpected bursts of humor. Although not all of the entries have Prelutsky's rollicking read-aloud quality, the richness of his language and the playfulness of the imagination are abundant; and Sis's illustrations are charmingly unique, sometimes deceptively simple, and certainly filled with the kind of playful wizardry that invites viewers to return again and again to these pages.-Kay E. Vandergrift, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Carolyn Phelan
It's tempting to quote nearly all the 17 poems in this excellent collection, but here's just a short one: "If you don't believe in dragons, / it is curiously true / That the dragons you disparage / Choose to not believe in you." Prelutsky and Sis must be true believers to bring to life so many sorts of dragons: the large, the small, the ferocious, the technological, the gentle, the ominous, and the disconsolate. There's a "just right" quality to the verse that makes it a pleasure to read the words aloud. Their sounds fit together with seamless craftsmanship, and their sense rewards listeners with humor, imagination, and occasional poignancy. More than a mirror for the verse, Sis' artwork extends the imagery with paintings of haunting beauty, subtlety, and strangeness. There's an otherworldly quality to the homeliest settings, magnified in more imaginative situations to a visionary surrealism. Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't sit on the shelf for long. Consider multiple copies.
