Dragon Stew
Five bored Vikings went out hiking, looking for adventure, something daring, bold and new. So they thought they’d hunt a dragon, and tie it to their wagon, take it home and chop it up and make a dragon stew! But when the Vikings set off to find their dragon, they get a BIG surprise
We have just acquired this book and we love it! It has been read most nights since we got it, and we still giggle every time. As you can see from the above it is written in rhyme and is really easy to read aloud. The pictures are brightly coloured, with lots of detail and humour and they back up the story fantastically well.
The Vikings load up their boat and go to hunt down a dragon when they are bored one day. None of them actually even know what a dragon is! They take sardine sandwiches (the picture shows us that the sardines may still be alive!) and set off in their Viking boat with things to catch a dragon. Among the things they take is a poking stick, this is seen to be a long pole with a silly hand tied on to literally poke the dragon. On the way they scare off a squid by holding up smelly socks and tie themselves to a killer whale to hitch a lift. Eventually they find their dragon, not that they realise it as they climb up his scales, and then they get more than they bargained for.
You may guess from all this that the humour is quite silly, the mention of stinky socks and dragon poo is all it takes to make many a pre-schooler laugh and the writer has used this to best advantage. The escapades of the Vikings are all a bit nutty, and what happens to their bottoms in the end is ingenious. If you like to be very proper with your children this may not be for you, but it is not obtuse, and as the dragon really has the upper hand you may even find a good moral in this story.
Verdict: A brilliantly silly, funny read, it will be loved by children and read repeatedly
Reviewed by Helen