Dragon Stories

The Kingfisher Treasury of...

by Margaret Clark (Editor), Mark Robertson (Illustrator)

From tales of heroic battle to pranks in the classroom this entertaining collection includes stories by Virginia Haviland and Judy Corbalis.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Childrens

157 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Margaret Clark was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia on 20th April 1942.
She has written books under the name M.D.Clark, Margaret D Clark and Lee Striker. Now she writes as Margaret Clark. With over one hundred books about relationships, friendships, and social issues under the guise of humour, Margaret's books have become very popular with young readers. She writes for ages four years to sixteen years. Her first book Pugwall was published in 1987 and subsequently made into a TV series, followed by Pugwall's Summer in 1989.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love
the St George's story and I love the
Dragon in St George's story. 🐉🐉🐉🐲🐲❤️❤️ Thanks for the book. 💗💗💗📖. And also I like the dragon in the mach box it is very very cool. 👍👍👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻🎮. By the way I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! 💙💙💙💗💗💗💕💕💕👍👍👍💖💖💖.

(Review by my 8yo)

[Keri · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like" ***
"Tom's Dragon" ***
"The Laidly Work of Spindleston Heugh" ***
"The Homemade Dragon" ****1/2
"A Race with a Dragon" ****
"Scales Takes Over" ****
"Constantes and the Dragon" ****
"The Secret in the Matchbox" *
"Sain Simeon and the Dragon" ***
"John and the Green Dragon" ***
"Georgie-Anna and the Dragon" ***1/2
"Ragnar Shaggy-Leggs and the Dragons" ***
"Irritating Irma" **
"The Dragon on the Roof" ****
"Saint George and the Dragon" ***

[MQR · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been over a decade since I've read it, but remembering that although not all of these stories were 'palatable' children's audience, but however several were good family read-alouds.

[Marika Gillis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find myself struggling to remember the short stories I read by the time I get to the end of a book of short stories, so I am writing about these as I read them. I'm also hopeful that I will be able to use some of these stories in my teaching. My favorites are marked with an asterisk.

Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like by Jay Williams- This one reminds me a bit of the story of the Three Blind Men and the Elephant. The city of Wu is threatened by Wild Horsemen and a small, fat, bald, old man comes and claims he is a dragon who can help them. The Mandarin and his counselors do not believe him because they all know what a dragon looks like and he is not it.

*Tom's Dragon by Kathryn Cave- Adorable story about a boy's dragon who is afraid of spiders. Had me looking up whether this story was a chapter from a longer chapter book.

The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh by Joseph Jacobs- Slightly similar to Sleeping Beauty (except for the sleeping part), a jealous stepmother casts a spell turning her beautiful stepdaughter into a
"Laidly worm" (which I gathered after a couple of pages was a dragon of some sort). The spell can only be broken if her brother returns home and kisses her three times. Slightly incestuous. :)

The Homemade Dragon by Norman Hunter- The kingdom of Incrediblania is desperate to have their own dragon, like the kingdoms that surround them. They are so desperate for one that they finally decide to make their own. But, when a real dragon comes along, it complicates things. Good story for visualizing.

A Race with a Dragon by John Cunliffe- After succumbing to a dragon in battle, a brave and clever knight agrees to race the dragon around the world. Would be a fun story to read with a map!

Scales Takes Over by June Counsel- A dragon by the name of Scales helps Sam's class complete the wall picture they must complete while their teacher (who has a pounding headache) takes a nap. This one was a little choppy and disjointed.

Constantes and the Dragon retold by Virginia Haviland- If you put the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk into a pot and mixed it with the story of Joseph in the Bible, then threw in a dragon and a coffin, mixed it all together and cooked it up you would end up with this story.

*The Secret in the Matchbox by Val Willis- Funny little story about a tiny dragon in a classroom that goes unnoticed be the teacher as he gets larger and larger. Good example of building suspense. This one might be my favorite so far (with Tom's Dragon). "I knew there'd be trouble!"

Saint Simeon and the Dragon retold by Margaret Clark- Extra short short story about a saint who helps get the thorn out of a dragon's eye after which the dragon never does harm again. I feel like there should be a lesson there, but it was lost on me.

*John and the Green Dragon by Jamila Gavin- I liked this story about a little boy, John, who is visited by Green Dragon. Green Dragon takes John to China Town in London to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Georgie-Anna and the Dragon by Judy Corbalis- When all the brave single men in the kingdom fail to kill the dragon, Georgie-Anna must take matters into her own hands, And rescue Prince Blanziflor while she's at it. This one was long and I was annoyed by the picture at the end. Georgie-Anna should have been leading the horse back, giving the Prince a ride. Not vice versa. Kind-of defeated the whole point of the story, if you ask me.

Ragnar Shaggy-Legs and the Dragons retold by Roger Lancelyn Green- Short and pointless. I didn't really understand this one.

Irritating Irma by Robin Klein- Cute story about a girl who stumbles upon a sleeping dragon and annoyingly worms her way into his affections.

The Dragon on the Roof by Terry Jones- A dragon lands on the roof of a merchant and his wife. All the dragon slayers try to kill it, even though the dragon is just taking a rest and claims he will not hurt anybody. When a dragon slayer finally succeeds in killing the dragon, the people sing his praises for years to come despite the dragon's blood having poisoned the earth and the smoke from the dragon's belly for years blocked the sun. Interesting message.

Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Clark- Townsmembers are sacrificed to the dragon until the king's daughter draws the short straw and must be sacrificed. Then the knight suddenly appears and, conveniently, kills him off. Dumb.

[Lina Maharani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berisi cerita² menarik seputar naga dan kelucuan mereka. Pada dasarnya, naga sebagai hewan mitologi yang cukup dikenal anak², naga digambarkan sebagai hewan perkasa lagi bijak. Tidak ada naga yang jahat, manusia-lah yang membuat mereka berlaku jahat karena merasa terancam. Buku yang bagus dibacakan sebagai penanaman nilai sosial.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good overall, except for the fact that some of the stories were to short. The Saint Simeon story was the worst, while The Homemade Dragon and Ragnar Shaggy-Legs and the Dragon are tied for best.


"***,rating!" -Nate

[Cassius Brophy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books from my childhood. Very much captured my imagination, and was probably the place I picked up the 'all old Chinese men are wise and magical' trope. The writing is at least CS Lewis level.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

** For my full review please check out http://backofthebookreviews.com/ **

Some really good stories. I couldnt really get into it though which is why it took me a long time to read.

[Kcatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago; I'm marking it as read today because I am behind on my challenge, and because I don't remember when I actually read it. It's a very good collection of stories.