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The Dragons are Singing Tonight
From beloved children's poet Jack Prelutsky and acclaimed illustrator Peter Sis comes a fierce, fanciful series of poems all about dragons fierce and dragons friendly; dragons' lairs and dragons' eggs; even a menacing dragon living inside a computer—all spring to life in these enchanting poems and paintings.
"Prelutsky and Sis bring to life so many sorts of 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. Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't sit on the shelf for long."— Booklist . This New York Times Notable Book of the Year is a wonderful introduction to the pleasures of poetry and word play from a master of the genre, Jack Prelutsky.
"Prelutsky and Sis bring to life so many sorts of 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. Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't sit on the shelf for long."— Booklist . This New York Times Notable Book of the Year is a wonderful introduction to the pleasures of poetry and word play from a master of the genre, Jack Prelutsky.
40 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
5 people are currently reading
685 people want to read
About the author
Jack Prelutsky
148 books232 followersJack Prelutsky is an American poet. He attended New York public schools, and later the High School of Music and Art and Hunter College. Prelutsky, who has also worked as a busboy, furniture mover, folk singer, and cab driver, claims that he hated poetry in grade school because of the way it was taught. He is the author of more than 30 poetry collections including Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep< and A Pizza the Size of the Sun. He has also compiled countless children's anthologies comprised of poems of others'. Jack Prelutsky was married to Von Tre Venefue, a woman he had met in France. They divorced in 1995, but Jack remarried. He currently lives in Washington state with his wife, Carolyn. He befriended a gay poet named Espiritu Salamanca in 1997 and both now work together in writing poems and stories for children and adults alike.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
March 18, 2013
This is a great book of high interest for teaching poetry. Many kids in k-6th like dragons, so it is a good tool for teaching poetry. The poems range from very simple and short to long with difficult vocabulary. The illustrations scaffold the poems, and can be used to teach ryhming, the forms of poetry, and inferring. All of the poems could be used as read alouds, some would be great for choral reading as well.
December 8, 2010
This is the CUTEST book of poetry ever! It's meant for kids, but I love it so much I'm making my high school students make their own dragon book in January when we study poetry!
October 17, 2020
A short and quick collection of poetry about the different kinds of Dragons that exist. Each page is decorated with a golden framed border which makes it look like a painting hanging in a museum. The poems themselves are cute and fun!
I think this book would probably be really great for actual children, lol. It would be good in classrooms too. Oh! Especially I Am Boom. (I'm sure all the poems have intense teaching poetry capabilities, but I'm not a teacher🤷🏻♀️)
Favorite poem & illustratration: If You Don't Believe in Dragons. But other honorable mentions would include: The Dragons are Singing Tonight (Yes, the very poem that shares the collections title), and Once They All Believed in Dragons
I think this book would probably be really great for actual children, lol. It would be good in classrooms too. Oh! Especially I Am Boom. (I'm sure all the poems have intense teaching poetry capabilities, but I'm not a teacher🤷🏻♀️)
Favorite poem & illustratration: If You Don't Believe in Dragons. But other honorable mentions would include: The Dragons are Singing Tonight (Yes, the very poem that shares the collections title), and Once They All Believed in Dragons
April 28, 2015
This book will appeal to kids and adults alike. It has poems that evoke a range of emotions, and some that are just fun to read. I recommend it for dragon lovers, as a read-aloud, and for everyone with a wild imagination. (Though the dragons are real, of course.)
November 13, 2017
Like with many poetry books, this book is a compilation of separate poems about dragons. From a poem about a kid who owns a pet dragon, to a poem from the perspective of a dragon, to addressing people who don’t believe in dragons, this book is a fun book to introduce different kinds of poetry to a class. This book provides a wide range of difficulty as it has very simple and short poems, as well as longer and more complex poems, making it perfect for any elementary school classroom. This book’s word choices could also be used to develop a student's’ vocabulary. Due to some of the challenging words, I would read the poems out loud to a younger audience, rather than having them read it on their own. Aside from the excellent examples of poetry, the illustrations also appealed to me. They were perfectly detailed and each illustration went along with each poem. Overall, these unique dragon poems were a delight to read and I highly recommend using this book in a poetry unit.
January 24, 2022
This collection of children’s poem from Jack Perlutsky is centered around dragons. Most of the poems are happy or funny, a few heartfelt, but all are lovely. They are all set off by great illustrations by peter sis. This book may be old but it can and will stand the test of time.
April 18, 2018
Not what I expected, but charming. Features a variety of dragons: the tiny and nasty sort, bath-sharing types, one plaguing a computer, a disconsolate (!) dragon, etc. Solid rhyme schemes.
October 22, 2023
A wonderful person, Mychal C, through their social media page (a librarian from Solano County) introduced me to this book! It's a wonderful book.
November 27, 2017
The dragons are singing tonight contains lots of poems about dragons. Mostly humorous from the dragon's point of view or someone talking about dragons. The point of this book is to make people to believe in dragons. Because this book is a book of multiple different poems about dragons, there is no real plot. Instead it mainly just revolves around the theme of dragons, from a kids who has a pet dragon, to a dragon talking about itself. One of the main poems is about people who don’t believe in dragons, which makes the dragons not believe in you. The point of the book is the get children to believe in dragons and I feel it did a very good job by having a lot of stories to support its mission. I loved the style of these poems. With a mix of humor and lot a figurative and descriptive language, it makes the poems exciting and easy to imagine in one's head. Any child after reading this book will wish they had their very own pet dragon.
November 21, 2022
My friend loaned me this book as her favorite book from her childhood. While I didn’t get any nostalgia from reading this, as it was my first time, I went in with the mindset I’ve been going back to while reading all of my childhood books.
The poems are simple and pretty, and I think the illustrations are where it shines. My interest in it came from wanting to practice drawing. This book is my first tool used in that journey. I love the few spots where the author dabbles in some nuance, and I think this small anthology is a great model for basic writing and illustration work.
The poems are simple and pretty, and I think the illustrations are where it shines. My interest in it came from wanting to practice drawing. This book is my first tool used in that journey. I love the few spots where the author dabbles in some nuance, and I think this small anthology is a great model for basic writing and illustration work.
September 8, 2019
While I love Ride a Purple Pelican, I don't love this one as much. I can't really put my finger on why, but I think it is because the dragons are just a tiny bit TOO much for me. A little bit too scary, too mean, too dangerous. And I am a very nervous reader. In contrast to many kids and adult readers, I do not enjoy being scared or fighting back against bad characters. I will stick to Prelutsky's more tame books, which are, in general, fabulous.
March 27, 2014
This book was always a favorite of mine when I was growing up. I recently found my family's copy and read it cover-to-cover once again. The poems are beautifully crafted, but easy for a child to understand. These poems tell how great it would be to have dragons in our world. And who wouldn't want a pet dragon?
March 27, 2012
My kindergarten son (who is now 23) chose this book at a book fair. It is absolutely delightful! Clever poetry and very funny! What I didn't know at the time, was that my son was born in the year of the dragon...........hmmmmmmmm..........coincidence?
February 8, 2011
I've had this book since I was a teen. Lovely poems about dragons, all very different, coupled wth gorgeous illustrations!
July 6, 2016
Dragons? Poetry? Lush full color illustrations? This is my kind of book!
June 16, 2020
"Once they all believed in dragons
When the world was fresh and young,
We were woven into legends,
Tales were told and songs were sung,
We were treated with obeisance,
We were honored, we were feared,
Then one day they stopped believing -
On that day, we disappeared.
Now they say our time is over
Now they say we've lived our last,
Now we're treated with derision
Where we once ruled unsurpassed.
We must make them all remember,
In some way we must reveal
That our spirit lives forever -
We are dragons! We are real!"
-"Once They All Believed In Dragons"
Age Group: Upper elementary to Middle school
Review:
Oh, this was a beautiful book. There is quite a bit to day so let me break it down into two parts: poems and illustrations.
Let's start with the poems. There was a GIANT variety of poems in this collection - from short to long; from silly to wistful. The speakers of the poems also had a wide range from children to various dragons sharing their story. No dragon was the same and they had such a variety in dragon types: fierce dragons, silly dragons, pet dragons, etc. It seems like there was a poem for every sort of reader.
The illustrations were lovely. They were not that colorful but they were detailed and like a storybook. There was a softness to them - I think it was from the colors. They were never harsh but blended seamlessly together, making it appear more magical, like a dream. Each poem had accompanying illustrations in the background to give visuals to the poems. Each page also had a border with even more details.
The book, overall, was lovely. However, I want to focus on a few of the poems that stood out to me.
"I'm An Amiable Dragon" was the poem to start the book and I really enjoyed the overall message. The dragon is speaking to the reader, telling them not to be afraid of him for his appearances. The theme of the poem is to not judge a person for their appearance - not everyone is as scary as they seem. This is a good message for older children to learn because they tend to make snap judgments based on appearance alone.
Another poem that stood out to me was "I Am My Master's Dragon" because it was so forlorn. I think it was dealing with the subject of depression. The dragon speaks of being treated so well by his master and how his master even tells him how well he treats it, but he is still filled with a deep sadness he hides. I think there are children who can relate to this poem because they are filled with negative emotions despite "not having a reason why." So this poem would speak for them.
The collection ended with the bittersweet "Once They All Believed In Dragons." Perhaps it's because I've always been a dreamer, but this poem just felt like the end of innocence and belief. It reminds me of that moment all children have when they stop believing in magic like the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus. There is something lost in no longer believing in dragons - the world is left so plain and sorrowful without the fantastical creatures. The accompanying illustration left me sorrowful: it's a dragon, eyes closed, blended into the hills. There is a castle right by his stomach, but to the people it's not a dragon but a range of hills. It reminds me of my childhood when I would imagine the hills surrounding the highways to be sleeping giants and sleeping dragons.
Maybe that's what they were.
Maybe we all should believe in dragons again.
When the world was fresh and young,
We were woven into legends,
Tales were told and songs were sung,
We were treated with obeisance,
We were honored, we were feared,
Then one day they stopped believing -
On that day, we disappeared.
Now they say our time is over
Now they say we've lived our last,
Now we're treated with derision
Where we once ruled unsurpassed.
We must make them all remember,
In some way we must reveal
That our spirit lives forever -
We are dragons! We are real!"
-"Once They All Believed In Dragons"
Age Group: Upper elementary to Middle school
Review:
Oh, this was a beautiful book. There is quite a bit to day so let me break it down into two parts: poems and illustrations.
Let's start with the poems. There was a GIANT variety of poems in this collection - from short to long; from silly to wistful. The speakers of the poems also had a wide range from children to various dragons sharing their story. No dragon was the same and they had such a variety in dragon types: fierce dragons, silly dragons, pet dragons, etc. It seems like there was a poem for every sort of reader.
The illustrations were lovely. They were not that colorful but they were detailed and like a storybook. There was a softness to them - I think it was from the colors. They were never harsh but blended seamlessly together, making it appear more magical, like a dream. Each poem had accompanying illustrations in the background to give visuals to the poems. Each page also had a border with even more details.
The book, overall, was lovely. However, I want to focus on a few of the poems that stood out to me.
"I'm An Amiable Dragon" was the poem to start the book and I really enjoyed the overall message. The dragon is speaking to the reader, telling them not to be afraid of him for his appearances. The theme of the poem is to not judge a person for their appearance - not everyone is as scary as they seem. This is a good message for older children to learn because they tend to make snap judgments based on appearance alone.
Another poem that stood out to me was "I Am My Master's Dragon" because it was so forlorn. I think it was dealing with the subject of depression. The dragon speaks of being treated so well by his master and how his master even tells him how well he treats it, but he is still filled with a deep sadness he hides. I think there are children who can relate to this poem because they are filled with negative emotions despite "not having a reason why." So this poem would speak for them.
The collection ended with the bittersweet "Once They All Believed In Dragons." Perhaps it's because I've always been a dreamer, but this poem just felt like the end of innocence and belief. It reminds me of that moment all children have when they stop believing in magic like the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus. There is something lost in no longer believing in dragons - the world is left so plain and sorrowful without the fantastical creatures. The accompanying illustration left me sorrowful: it's a dragon, eyes closed, blended into the hills. There is a castle right by his stomach, but to the people it's not a dragon but a range of hills. It reminds me of my childhood when I would imagine the hills surrounding the highways to be sleeping giants and sleeping dragons.
Maybe that's what they were.
Maybe we all should believe in dragons again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2023
What put this 30-year-old picture book on my radar? An Instagram reel of a Solano County (Calif.) librarian reading one of the poems, at the request of their mother, in memory of a library patron.
It is a book that should be on every librarian’s and parent’s radar! Any child who goes through the “dragon phase” (all of us??) needs to be handed this beautiful treasure. The rhyming poems will introduce youngsters to the fun and magic of poetry while also feeding their insatiable appetite for anything and everything about dragons.
My favorite is “I am Boom!” as I loved the images it conjured of dragon’s creating the weather and storms in our everyday life. See…proof they are real! Don’t you doubt it!
It is a book that should be on every librarian’s and parent’s radar! Any child who goes through the “dragon phase” (all of us??) needs to be handed this beautiful treasure. The rhyming poems will introduce youngsters to the fun and magic of poetry while also feeding their insatiable appetite for anything and everything about dragons.
My favorite is “I am Boom!” as I loved the images it conjured of dragon’s creating the weather and storms in our everyday life. See…proof they are real! Don’t you doubt it!
April 30, 2023
I recently started author studies with my 1st-2nd graders. Since April is National Poetry Month, Jack Prelutsky was our author for that month. One cannot go wrong with dragons where children are concerned. Just the title alone compels the young fantasy lover to pluck it from the shelf. After I read a couple poems to the class, several students wanted to check the book out. Thankfully, the library has two copies so student's waiting period was lessened. The poems range from silly to lyrical and Peter Sis's drawings are excellent. I highly recommend for a poetry unit or for a quiet evening read/bedtime story.
June 11, 2025
Found this at a yard sale or secondhand store recently. My kids are grown, but picked it up because 1) the theme at our Girl Scout day camp this year where I'm volunteering is fairy tales, folktales, and legends; and 2) dragons.
The illustrations remind me a lot of some in favorite books from when I was a kid. Couldn't remember the artist's name so I looked it up: Friso Henstra (https://frisohenstra.com/en/picture-b...).
Not identical or anything; more the mood - and the girl on p. 28 of this book.
The title poem is one of my favorites. There were a few I didn't much care for but overall a very appealing book.
Good find.
The illustrations remind me a lot of some in favorite books from when I was a kid. Couldn't remember the artist's name so I looked it up: Friso Henstra (https://frisohenstra.com/en/picture-b...).
Not identical or anything; more the mood - and the girl on p. 28 of this book.
The title poem is one of my favorites. There were a few I didn't much care for but overall a very appealing book.
Good find.
January 9, 2022
My toddler aged son has picked up the voracious habit of reading, and so I'd like to keep track of what we read together so that I can share what I think are quality or subpar work with other parents looking to do the same. As well as remember books and keep those fond memories alive. Tonight was "The Dragons Are Singing Tonight" a cute collection of poetry and colorful illustrations that any toddler to grade school student could enjoy. It's charming, whimsical, and has a wide variety of complexity with its poems.
January 3, 2018
Begun and done. A wonderful little collection of clever rhyming prose that will delight the kiddos, while still enchanting adults with its witty wordy wonders. Hard pressed to pick a favorite, but I have to say, the imagery combined the poem itself of IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN DRAGONS, definitely had me smiling.
August 19, 2018
Large colour pictures and a variety of temperaments made this a delight to read to Miss 4.
Miss 4 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
Miss 4 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
September 17, 2023
A fun poetry collection for dragon-loving children. The illustrations are enjoyable.
As I read, I pictured a young boy listening to these poems. I follow mychal3ts on Instagram. He is a children’s librarian. A parent messaged him, asking if he would read one of these poems in remembrance of their son who had died. This had been a favorite book of the his.
As I read, I pictured a young boy listening to these poems. I follow mychal3ts on Instagram. He is a children’s librarian. A parent messaged him, asking if he would read one of these poems in remembrance of their son who had died. This had been a favorite book of the his.
Read
December 18, 2025A wonderful and charming book of poems about dragons with beautiful illustrations. My kiddo is just getting into a dragons/dinosaurs era and she picked this one specifically from a big box of books gifted to us by my mother (all books from my own childhood). The poems are sometimes funny, sometimes more serious and stately and always fun to read aloud. The artwork and mood are terrific.
May 30, 2017
I think it's a good way to get kids involved in reading poetry. Prelutsky is one of my favorite authors, and I enjoy reading the different types of books he writes. Kids love dragons - so why not use that to get them to read poetry?
August 28, 2017
The art and the poems are absolutely delightful. Creative, inspiring, imaginative--a must for fans of dragons and poetry and art. Or any of the above. Or for convincing people who don't think they like dragons, poetry, or art.
September 23, 2019
a lovely book of poetry about Dragons - lazy ones. dragons who chose not to believe in folks that don't believe in dragons, and dragons that were built by hand and don't fly correctly. About dragon eggs discovered in mother's garden ...it's a sweet book about a favorite subject.
November 26, 2019
Poetry
4th-6th grade
Dragons don’t particular interest me, but I thought this book was fun. I like the rhyme used in the poems. There are so many different poems, all about dragons, which some students may find really fun. I really like Jack Prelutsky’s poem books!
4th-6th grade
Dragons don’t particular interest me, but I thought this book was fun. I like the rhyme used in the poems. There are so many different poems, all about dragons, which some students may find really fun. I really like Jack Prelutsky’s poem books!
February 13, 2020
Read this book of dragon poems aloud while subbing in a fifth grade grade class. I loved the variety in the poems, and the corresponding art was lovely. With poems of all different lengths and with vivid imagery and strong vocabulary, this makes a wonderful mentor text for a poetry unit!
September 10, 2021
At least one of these stars is purely because I love the illustrator's work so much. So so much. I am a him-completist.
A few of these poems were delicious and mostly they were okay. They scanned. Kids' poetry is not often my jam.
A few of these poems were delicious and mostly they were okay. They scanned. Kids' poetry is not often my jam.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews