My Father's Dragon
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me stage.
Why it fits Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me (for the kindergarten-ready set, between being read to and reading alone)
A boy packs chewing gum and hair ribbons to rescue a baby dragon, and every item pays off. The map alone launches a hundred pretend expeditions. A 1948 Newbery Honor that reads like it was written yesterday.
What makes it special
The narrator packs exactly what a child would — gum, ribbons, lollipops — and every item defeats a specific animal, a plot children find deeply satisfying. The 1948 ink illustrations and endpaper map invite expedition-planning between chapters. Read-aloud fantasy where cleverness, not strength, wins the day.
From the publisher
A young boy runs away from home to rescue an abused baby dragon held captive to serve as a free twenty-four hour, seven-days-a-week ferry for the lazy wild animals living on Wild…
About Ruth Stiles Gannett
Ruth Stiles Gannett (1923–2024) wrote My Father's Dragon in her mid-twenties; it was illustrated by her stepmother, Ruth Chrisman Gannett, and named a Newbery Honor book. She and her husband had seven daughters.
She began the dragon story, set it aside for a job at a Vermont ski lodge, and picked it up again during two rainy weeks at her parents' home while she was looking for work; her parents read it and encouraged her to send it to Random House.
Also by this author: Elmer and the Dragon · The Dragons of Blueland
More from “Chapter One, Together”
This book is part of The Best Books for Beginning Readers: 30 Teacher Picks (Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.