The Boy Who Grew Dragons: A Christmas Delivery: A festive picture book from the creator of the best-selling 'The Boy Who Grew Dragons'

By Author / Illustrator

Andy Shepherd, Sarah Warburton

Genre

Seasonal

Age range(s)

Publisher

Templar Books

ISBN

9781835874264

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

09-10-2025

Synopsis

The eagerly-anticipated picture book from Andy Shepherd, author of the best-selling The Boy Who Grew Dragons series.

Tomas and Lolli love Christmas. And they're not the only ones! Their dragons love Christmas, too. But they have a habit of getting into trouble. When a brand-new snow dragon hatches on Christmas Eve, she unleashes a flurry of snow that transforms their dragon-growing garden into a winter wonderland.

It's all fun and snowball fights to start with... but there's one BIG downside. There's now SO much snow that they're stuck and won't be able to deliver the Christmas presents in time! Can Tomas, Lolli, Grandad and the dragons work together to save Christmas and spread a little magic?

A winter-warmer of a picture book, which captures all the magic and mayhem of The Boy Who Grew Dragons, but for a younger audience. Andy Shepherd's sparkling writing conjures warmth and charm with every phrase and her characters are artfully brought to life by the stunning illustrations of Sarah Warburton (The Princess and the Pea; Dinosaurs in the Supermarket; Twinkle).

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Reviews

Lucy

Another lovely story to add to your Christmas book collection! This book is all about a little girl and boy who create magic with their Grandad. I love the way the book talks about the magic of Grandad's garden and really focuses on that relationship. When it's done right, the grandparent relationship can be a really beautiful one and this book highlights that.

Lots of the usual lovely Christmas activities are featured in the story such as making cards and decorating the Christmas tree. This is a nice point to focus on with children as they get older each year and will begin to recognise different traditions they enjoy as a family every year. I love the way the characters develop an alternative magical version of Santa Clause's sleigh - the whole idea is magical enough but this is an even more imaginative version.

My favourite image is when the sleigh is being flown by lots of tiny, flying dragons. The detail is beautiful and it really helps to create an image in children's heads of what it could be like. I love the part where the children are building the sleigh with their grandad and how the dragon helps in different ways, for example, clearing a path in the snow by melting it with their fire breathing.

The book ends with its message that, even though it's about a magical, imaginary idea, Christmas is really about families sticking together. It doesn't matter if it's Christmas or not, sticking together as a family is really important. I would use this as a book for story time at home with my children or as a festive story to enjoy in school.

Picture book / Reviewed by Lucy Hopkins, teacher

Jenny

A beautifully charming Christmas picture book, featuring much loved characters from Andy Shepherd's The Boy Who Grew Dragons series. It is so wonderful to see Tomas, little sister Lolli and their dragons, in glorious full colour and bursting with magic, in this sparkling picture book.

Dragons can be excitable and mischievous so when the snowy dragon is born on Christmas Eve, present deliveries are a challenge and it is going to take dragon power, shimmering scales and the Christmas spirit to fly their gifts to friends and family.

Delightfully charming and uplifting with stunning illustrations, A Christmas Delivery is perfectly heart warming for a cosy Christmas winter's tale.

Picture book / Reviewed by Jenny Caddick, teacher