George and the Dragon

by Christopher Wormell

Far, far away in the high, high mountains in a deep, deep valley in a dark, dark cave lived a mighty dragon. He was an awesome and frightening creature who terrorized whole armies, destroyed castles, demolished forests, and kidnapped princesses. But this mighty dragon had a deep, dark secret. . . .

Genres: Picture Books, Dragons, Childrens, Fantasy, Storytime, Humor, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Christopher Wormell is an English printmaker, principally known for his illustrated books.

Reviews

[Benjamin Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story! I love the illustrations, and the fact that it has Dragons... I think it highlights that no matter how big and scary we are, everyone is scared of something

[Bel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite

[Shanna Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of Wormell's George and the Dragon books which parody traditional dragonslaying fairy tales. In this story, the mouse George moves into a hole next door to a mouse-phobic dragon, and pays the dragon a visit just as he is about to devour a fair princess. The dragon's response is predictable. Like George, the Dragon and the Princess, this story is lighthearted, silly and well executed. Wormell's high-quality artwork is full of action and drama, making this a great story for crowds or quiet family reading. It is accessible to a preschool audience but will also be appreciated by elementary readers.

[Paul Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This excellent and well illustrated story follows the traditional story of a dragon terrorising a castle. However, this dragon has a secret, he is terrified of mice. The hero of the story turns out to be George, a mouse. He scares away the dragon and then gets a lifetime supply of cheese as a reward. Children really enjoy this book as they understand the irony of a dragon who is afraid of mice. This book is suitable for Year 2 and can lead to a number of different activities. The pictures in the book are large so can be used for writing lessons to try and improve the children’s description.

[Denise Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own 850+ children's books - predominantly picture books. I have a top 20 and they don't change much. That said, 2 were added in the last 12 months and this is one of them.
Why?
Well the illustrations are amazing . The story is not radically surprising but it does depart from the norm. The real factor is the language choices. The "mighty dragon" has "monstrous wings" and he can destroy anything with "one blast of his fiery breath".
I started to see the word mighty in the writing of a few of the 5 year olds in my class. I read the same picture book everyday from Monday to Friday and there was lots of opportunity for children to change the word choices and talk about their effect. The true measure of a good picture book is if children are engaged every time they hear or read it and they begin to adopt the language. I could have spent another week on this book and the children's book talk would not have run dry.

[Luke Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore this book. The juxtaposition between the realist artwork and first half of the story- and the utter silliness of the second half, is genius. The children tend to think of it as both epic and hilarious, which is a very difficult line to walk. Would use in KS1 for all manner of lessons, or just as a great book to have in the classroom.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favourite with year one children!

[Ronda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for a quick-read-aloud for several of my classes--one that was short enough to allow me to share and use to demonstrate Accelerated Reader. When you read this aloud, be sure to take time to explore the illustrations, and maybe point out some of the things that may get missed in a group setting---the furnishings on the ceiling in George's first cave, the kidnapped princess, the dragon hiding behind the mountains. Much fun. Used in my intro to the fantasy genre.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This hoot of a story is short enough to share with preschool children. Wonderful and large illustrations as well. When I have used it in either story times or during school visits, I make sure to yell/scream very loud when the dragon sees George. Of course, it always startles the kidlets at first, but then they start laughing, and enjoying how funny it is that the huge dragon is frightened of the tiny mouse.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

George and the Dragon is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Chris Wormell and is a book about a mighty red dragon and his deep, dark, secret, which comes to light in this book. Today is St. George's Day (23 April) and I pondered if there were any children's book about this day. After a quick Google search, I found we have one at our bookstore.

The text is very simplistic and straightforward with a radical twist. According to the legend, George, who would later become a saint, tamed and then slayed a dragon that demanded human sacrifice who so happened to be a princess. In this book the dragon is the same, but George isn't. The illustrations were beautifully rendered and complement the text rather well.

The premise of the book follows the legend faithfully, but with a twist, George isn't a human, but a mouse and he has no intention in fighting a dragon, but moves in next door to him. Wormell describes the dragon's bad deeds, but the kidnapping and human sacrifice is shown rather than told. However the dragon has a deep, dark, secret – he's afraid of mice. When George pays a visit – the dragon promptly runs away and George is celebrated for defeating the dragon.

All in all, George and the Dragon is a wonderful children's book about a dragon and his fear of mice – a really nice twist to a classic legend where no killings are mentioned of humans or dragon.

[Meg Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used to introduce story telling in KS1. Has a basic plot and uses a variety of adjectives that can get the children thinking about creating their own descriptive texts. Used as an outline and year 1 had to change the adjective, year 2 had more flexibility to change story. Could also use as a drama piece--3 characters.

[Beyondthebookends · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fantastically illustrated story tells the story of a terrible dragon, who is afraid of mice, and George, the mouse that just moved in next door. I loved it!

More Dragon Books at https://www.beyondthebookends.com/201...

[Hayley Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic story of a dragon who is afraid of a mouse. This is a very entertaining story and there is so much potential to link it to themes such as fairy tales and castles. Children could compare this story to others, create their own characters which are afraid of something they shouldn't be.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun for all ages, short enough not to bore adults who may be asked to read it over and over again, accessible to tots.

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great tale turned on its head. Very enjoyable.

[Felicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations are gorgeous. This book is built like a perfect fairy-tale bedtime story and has a surprising plot twist that changes the second half of the book. Loved it!

[Sue Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very funny story about a mighty dragon afraid of something very, very small! Great humour and ending.

[Louise O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun retelling of the George and the Dragon story where George is a mouse, and the Dragon is afraid of mice.

[Haley Kilgour · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun dragon book with a twist I wasn’t expecting.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely paintings, simple story about how of you just keep loving your normal life, bad people will run away from you. 👍🏻

[Oliver Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favourite children’s book, when I was younger I convinced my mum I could read, when actually I just remembered every word

[zunggg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slight tale of a musophobic monster which elicits a chuckle or two.

[L C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect lunch time reading. Beautiful pictures and a funny storyline. Perfect.

[Issy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recognized this from when I was little and had to give it a quick read.

This is one I'd buy for my kids one day, I used to adore the illustrations.

[Elizabeth Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

George and the Dragon, by Chris Wormell.

This well-illustrated book begins like a traditional story, with a terrifying dragon. The mighty, bright red dragon breathes fire and fights an entire army. However, as the story continues, the reader discovers the dragon has a big secret - that he is scared of mice! A little mouse, the George of the story, moves next door and knocks on the dragon’s cave to borrow some sugar. The dragon is so frightened that George manages to scare him away for good – and save the Princess – with a life of luxury in her castle home as a reward. Children will find this irony very amusing.

Each page of the book has a very bright and vivid picture, with very few words, as the illustrations tell most of the story. This is a good book for introducing inference and deduction – as the reader has to ‘read’ the pictures, along with the next. For instance, there is no mention of the mouse actually saving the Princess, but the reader can see the dragon dropping her when faced with the ‘scary’ mouse.

This story would appeal to younger readers who would love the bright and fun pictures, whilst also being an enjoyable read for older children, who would enjoy the comparison with the traditional George and the Dragon tale. Children could use the pictures to stimulate descriptive writing, and could be introduced to using similes and metaphors. Older children can also start to think about the use of irony and how it is a parody of the traditional fairy-tale, and perhaps write one of their own.

[Kevin O'Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for younger children as it is full of vivid images and colourful illustrations. The storyline centres on a dragon that terrorises a castle. This dragon, however, is not as terrifying or as brave as the average dragon. He has a great fear of mice. Students will find the irony of this quite amusing. George, a mouse, turns out to be the hero of this tale when he scares away the dragon from the castle for good. His bounty is a life supply of cheese. Overall, it is an uplifting story that children in key stage one would really enjoy. I believe that it would help pupils with descriptive writing. Also, it may be a fun story to act out in class, heightening the students’ understanding of the story’s structure and the importance of illustrative writing.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've read several version of the classic story of Saint George and the Dragon and our girls thought they knew what was going to happen in this story, too. When they saw the really big font of the narrative, they were a bit concerned that the story would be too babyish.

But the gorgeous illustrations and humorous tale really brought them around. They liked the unusual ending and they thought it was an entertaining story. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new favourite of my stepson's. The artwork is the focus of this gorgeous book, with lots of details and things to talk about, and one sentence per page. It's a book to share with children, as the language is quite challenging, but it's fun to read with a lot of humour in George the mouse who moves next door to a dragon, and inadvertently rescues a princess.

If I have one quibble, it is that the princess never speaks, but I look forward to reading the sequel and seeing whether she has a more active role in it.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

George just moved into his cave and isn't very happy about it. The previous tenents were bats (he's a mouse), so the fixtures are very inconvenient. And the nearest shop is miles away and he needs to borrow just a bit of sugar from his next door neighbor...

The illustrations are excellent and this tale is quite amusing.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different librarian did story time today and this was one of the choices. I thought some details were funny, such as the mouse's new home not being accommodating because a bat lived there before. A cute story of how even the big and strong can fear something. It also celebrates the small. I couldn't see the illustrations well from our seat.