Dragons: A Pop-Up Book of Fantastic Adventures

List Price: $15.95 Discount Price: $8.58

Customer Reviews:

Ho Hum from a pop-up collector... [Posted on 2007-12-04]
The illustrations are quite lovely, and the little stories explaining each dragon are nicely written. I give it only three stars because there are so few pages, and the construction of the pop-up features are very unremarkable.

Weak story-telling and just OK pop-ups [Posted on 2008-02-07]
I bought this for my 4-year-old son because he loves pop-up books and is very interested in dragons. This book was a disappointment, though. There are only five pop-ups really, to go with five dragon stories, each told in a two-page spread. The stories, drawn from common legends around the world, are retold in a summary form that takes all the magic and drama out of them. The popups are also disappointing. Only one is reasonably sophisticated and well-done; the rest are rather simplistic. Most of the other pop-up books we have are much more creative and compelling in their storytelling, design, or both.

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Dragons: A pop up book [Posted on 2008-03-16]
This is a beautiful book. It is the second one I've purchased for a gift. I think if you are a person interested in dragon lore, then this is a great book to buy. The quality of the "pop ups" is amazing. The text interesting and informative.

Excellent Pop-Up Dragon book for young children [Posted on 2008-04-22]
This book has beautiful illustrations (lovely color and details) with simple, but impressive, pop-up art. As another reviewer noted, complex pop-up stuff is easily destroyed by kids. My four year old likes to feel the fangs and make the dragons 'fly' by opening and closing the book. It has remained durable over the past several months, unlike other pop-ups. This is one of his all time favorite books.

Although the retellings are rather dry, I like the fact that it includes dragon stories from a wide range of cultures: England, China, Sweden, Japan. With a (very little!) extra imagination, it is easy to fill the stories out. My husband uses fake British and horrid Scottish accents that make our son giggle. Discussion about how fables and rules work (Why did the Dragon Princess leave?) generate more discussion... and at bedtime, I appreciate being able to tell my kids they only get one or two dragon stories, if it's already late. Or, if it's the only story, even reading all 5 does not take that long.

Because these are familiar legends, one can find other versions, and I think it's really good for kids to learn that there are different ways to tell the story of St. George and the Dragon. Or that in some versions of Maud and the Wyvern the knight who kills the Wyvern is named Garston, and in some versions he's a high born local Knight, and in other versions he's a prisoner who figured that the risk of fighting a wyvern would be worth the possibility of freedom. We parents can learn a lot with a little research!

Some of the stories are a little boodthirsty, so it could be scary for young children, and when my son finally gets to take it to share at his preschool, I am planning to let the teachers know which stories are best for the littlest ones...

Fantastic Pop-Up [Posted on 2008-05-24]
This is yet another fantastic pop-up book. I collect pop-up books and I certainly was not disappointed with this one, DRAGONS: A Pop-Up Book of Fantastic Adventures.

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