Book talk: King Jack and the Dragon by Peter Bentley and Helen Oxenbury

If you're like King Jack, you have everything you need to make a castle: a big cardboard box; an old sheet and some sticks; a couple of trash bags and a couple of bricks; and an old blanket.

Now you have to protect your castle against dragon attack. You also have to protect your castle against wild beasts.

But what if your other trusty warriors leave you? Will it be hard to fight dragons all alone? It might be scary to be in your castle in the utter darkness...

King Jack and the Dragon by Peter Bentley and Helen Oxenbury. 2011: Dial Books for Young Readers. 2013 Kate Greenaway medal nominee. Booktalk to PK-2.

Book talk: Again! by Emily Gravett

Who would want to hear the same story every single night? Little dragon. Little dragon loves his book about Cedric the red dragon who has never, ever been to bed.

Guess who does NOT love little dragon's book? Little dragon's mother! It's a long book, and she gets more and more tired reading it. It goes on and on and on.

A sleepy dragon mother -- if she's smart -- will take a long story and make it shorter. And shorter [display pages]. Uh oh, I think she's falling asleep!

But what happens to little dragon when you make his favorite story shorter? He gets mad. What happens when dragons get mad?

Do you really want to know?

Again! by Emily Gravett. Unpaged. 2011: Simon & Schuster. Booktalk to PK-2. 2013 Kate Greenaway Medal nomination.

Emily Gravett