Oscar and the Very Hungry Dragon
Gr 1-3–Typical of most dragons, the one who terrorizes Oscar's village is hungry, and he can only be satisfied by a “fat juicy princess.” Sadly, the royal limo has left town, taking any rotund royalty with it, so the village holds a lottery to pick the next best substitute. Oscar, the unfortunate boy, is sent up the mountain to his apparent doom. Clever child that he is, he tricks the nearsighted dragon into fattening him up before devouring him. An apparent culinary genius, he sends the dragon out on daily grocery trips for the necessary ingredients to make delicious meals, like grilled eggplant. Oscar offers his captor tastes of his creations, but stubbornly the dragon refuses until he is almost starved. Finally, he relents, and is transformed into a foodie. One would think this is the happy ending, but when the dragon finds his bifocals, he discovers that Oscar has indeed fattened up, and is quite incensed by the boy's trickery. Oscar talks some sense into the creature, convincing him that a live-in chef would be better than a single meal of Oscar à la mode. The dragon consents, and a new village restaurant, Cafe Dragon House, is born. The illustrations are wonderfully detailed watercolor spreads with plenty of amusing elements. Both main characters have expressive faces. Because of its length, this humorous picture books is best suited to independent reading.Jasmine L. Precopio, Fox Chapel Area School District, Pittsburgh, PA© Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.