Tuesday, May 17, 2011

When a Dragon Moves In by Moore and McWilliam

When a Dragon Moves In by Jodi Moore
Illustrated by Howard McWilliam
Copyright 2011
Flashlight Press/Ages 4-8
32 pages

If you build a perfect sandcastle,
a dragon will move in.
He'll settle in all cozy
and peep at you from inside . . .
. . . and you'll wonder how you ever got so lucky.

When a little boy spends a day at the beach and builds a beautiful sandcastle, a dragon moves in. The dragon toasts marshmallows, holds up the little boy's kites, scares bullies away. He roars (like the sound of the ocean), has sharp teeth (like broken shells) and eats a little too much of the family's food. As you read When a Dragon Moves In, you are clearly shown that the dragon is simply a figment of the little boy's imagination. His father lounges on the beach and chases away the bullies, mother reads her book and hears the sound of the ocean, not a roar.

What a beautiful, imaginative, perfect picture book for preschoolers! I love the way the illustrator's cheerful paintings make it plain that the dragon isn't real and it's okay for youngsters to pretend -- but careful what you try to slip past the rest of the family. Blaming your misdeeds on an imaginary friend only goes so far!

Highly recommended for little ones and new readers. My thanks to Flashlight Press for the review copy!

In other news:

Gosh. I'm having a little trouble getting back into the swing of things. Huzzybuns put down about 3/4 of the office floor while I was away and I've spent the last three days catching up on laundry, moving books from cabinets that need to be moved, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Oh, yes -- and editing Charleston photos. Too many! Did I tell you I took about 2,000 photos? Eeks.

Anyway, back to the flooring. I'm going to have to move the computer and the desk has developed a little paper entropy (piles, piles, where do they come from?) so first I have to tidy that. I think, since I have over a week till my tour and only one more book finished, I'll go ahead and write a little about Charleston is Burning! then just show up when I find the time. As I've said before, posting is going to have to be very sporadic, this summer, and blog-hopping is just a, "When I can get to it," thing. There's a lot of not-getting-to-it going on. Things should settle down in the fall. I hope.

Want to see a photo of three chicks on a Charleston adventure? Here you go:

Left to right: Bookfool, Care and Cindi. That's not a great shot of Care, so I'll share one I think is much better with you. In this shot, Care's wearing the dress I kept telling her she ought to buy! Doesn't she look cute?

Gotta go clean, clean, clean. Happy day!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

17 comments:

  1. It looks like you had fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carrie,

    I had a fabulous time! I think Carrie and Cindi did, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG I love that pic of the three of y'all :D You all look gorgeous!! And SO awesome that you met Care :D I love her!! She seems like a sweetie pie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chris,

    Thanks! The whole trip was amazing. Care is a spitfire. LOL. You'd love her. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm a spitfire?! That's good, right? Did I tell you that none of my red shoes really 'go' with the new dress? I think I need some sassy black kitten heels or something...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Care,

    Yes, that's good! You're energetic and bubbly and fun! :) Wahoo! So glad your shoes go with the new dress!! We need to see some full-length pics of that dress, you know. Black kitten heels would be great. And, you can wear them with just about anything.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The book looks so cute and I love the photos!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Alyce,

    It's cute, all right! I love dragons. I'm thinking I need to go build a sandcastle, actually. :) Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What fun! The book and the trip. :) Glad you shared pics from your Charleston adventure. I bet you ladies had a blast.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So fun to see a picture of you! It looks like you had a great time. And this book looks darling. I have a dragon-obsessed child who would love it.
    2 Kids and Tired Books

    ReplyDelete
  11. Holly,

    How fun to have a dragon-obsessed child! You should definitely grab this one. It's so cute.

    I did have a great time in Charleston! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hmmm, my dictionary says a spitfire is someone with a fierce temper. I don't get mad often, but I don't know if I'm actually fierce. Now, my fashion sense IS fierce!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Care,

    Dictionaries do not agree with me all the time. My definition of a spitfire is someone with high energy, a real go-getter. You do have a fierce fashion sense. Maybe that's where my brain was headed (but, no, I really have always had my own definition, apparently).

    ReplyDelete
  14. Did we get any photos of my lobster get-up head to toe?! I just now, today, realized that I forgot to take my blogging buddy lobster Copley. HOW could I do that?! I feel so bad. I promised Nymeth I would show it the world. #badcare
    PS posted abt our trip just now...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Care,

    I have a photo of you doing something (from the back) but I think that's the only shot I got of your lobster dress. I'll have to go look. LOL Copley will have to wait till the next trip, I guess! If I'd known, I would have reminded you to pack him. I'm sure Nymeth will forgive you, this time.

    I saw your post, but we were in the midst of a noisy storm and I hate typing on the iPad. Will comment in a sec!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks Care and Nancy,

    I came here today for the pause that refreshes and what the hey,I stayed too long. I'm overdosed on happiness and pictures. Charleston was great.

    Any takers on Detroit for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists conference? Bloggers welcome. Care? Nancy? Not quite like the Low Country but lots of fun writers, excursions and free booze.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Cindi,

    I love it that you've been wading around in the photos. :) Charleston was, indeed, wonderful.

    Wish I could join you in Detroit, but my summer is booked solid! I hope you have a fabulous time. Free booze doesn't do much for me, as you know, but I would love to hang out with other writers. Maybe another year? It's an annual thing, yes?

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog! I use comment moderation because apparently my blog is a spam magnet. Don't worry. If you're not a robot, your comment will eventually show up and I will respond, with a few exceptions. If a comment smacks of advertising, contains a dubious link or is offensive, it will be deleted. I love to hear from real people! I'm a really chatty gal and I love your comments!