Friday, August 28, 2015

Dragons as Pets

I am not sure what makes dragons so fascinating, but they are. We love them, revere them, hate the bad ones, admire them, pray to them, enjoy books featuring them, watch them in movies and create dragon art. The list of dragon-related media is endless.

The most interesting aspect is this – every generation has had kids which want dragons as pets. You can’t buy them, can’t hide them, can’t easily feed them, can’t control them, they are NOT exactly cute and cuddly with all their nails, scales and teeth – why then would a kid want a dragon for a pet? I have asked them and got some very vague answers.

My kids have dragon pets on their virtual pet game. They nurture and play with them. Buy them food, clothes and other stuff. But, here are a few of my favorite dragon pets:



This one’s a great favorite of mine. Steven Kellogg’s The Mysterious Tadpole. I got it for my kids. We still leaf through the book for its rich illustration. Towards the end where all the kids from town play on Alphonse – that is brilliant!


I discovered The Pet Dragon rather recently, but fell in love with the illustrations, predominantly in red. It’s a fantastic way to introduce a foreign culture and language - definitely one of my ‘to-keep’ books.

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I want a Dog, is a wonderful book about wanting a pet, and then going on to ‘creating’ one (a non-living one) of her own. It shows a child’s resourcefulness and imagination at work - amazing work by Dayal Kaur Khalsa.

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The How To Train Your Dragon books were made into movies and they went on to become box office hits. The books are a little different from the movies, but they are great adventures slightly older kids love. In fact my older one became a reader after she started on these. I sometimes think Cressida Cowell must have had a blast while writing them!

Well, what do you have to say about dragons as pets?