The Dragon with the Blazing Bottom

The Dragon with the Blazing Bottom is a funny book that had the Year 2 class and their teacher in stiches. The children loved the rhyming aspect and guessing what word came next. They loved the images, particularly the one with the dragon's flaming bottom! Of course, the biggest laugh came at the word 'FART!', this caused much hilarity. The vocabulary used is imaginative and some of the class have used such vocabulary in their own writing - words such as 'fizzed', 'flashed' and 'collapsed'. In terms of using the book for an extended writing topic, I would be reluctant as it doesn't have the depth of story required. But as a fun, picture book for 5 - 8 year olds to read, it is fantastic!

32 pages / Reviewed by Ashley Clayton

Suggested Reading Age 5+

The Dragon with the Blazing Bottom is a funny, fast-paced rhyming picture book that will have young children giggling at the hapless dragon's inability to breath fire - before producing flames from an unexpected source, his bottom! And what child doesn't enjoy stories about bottoms?

When Dragon suddenly finds he can't breath fire anymore, his friend Sir Wayne begins to search for the problem. Are his teeth too clean, his breath not bad enough? Sir Wayne comes up with a solution - a cauldron of delights that are bound to get the dragon shooting flames again. And it works - but not quite how they expected...

This is a really funny story to share with children from three years upwards - they will roar with laughter at the ending! The rhyming text makes for a great read-aloud and the illustrations are bright and bold, making them good for sharing. I loved all the funny details, too, in the illustrations.

I would definitely use this to inspire children to invent their own recipes for a fire-breathing dragon!

Picture book / Reviewed by Elen Green.

Suggested Reading Age 3+