Take Care, Good Knight
Three lovable little dragons from the Dutton Easy Readers series that began withGood Night, Good Knight(2000) now appear in a large-format picture book. When a friendly old wizard asks them to watch his cats while he is gone, they readily agree. Later, unable to read his instructions, the preliterate dragons are baffled but still game. They pore over his illustrated message, guess at the words, and use clues from the pictures he has drawn, but they wildly mistake his meanings. In one case, they imagine that a pool of water means "take the cats swimming" rather than "give the cats fresh water." Well suited to reading aloud, the story is written with a keen ear for language and a good understanding of what makes young children laugh. Meisel's ink-and-watercolor illustrations, full of lively details, are as entertaining as the story. Sure to please the not-reading-quite-yet set as well as the many fans of the previous books.Carolyn PhelanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved