Quinnipiac College: An educational leader in business, health and liberal arts (Newcomen publication)

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FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY.
Everybody loved Ignis. He could run the fastest and fly the highest of all his dragon friends, and “his wings, depending on the weather, opened like silk umbrellas or gossamer parasols.” But there used to be one thing Ignis couldn’t do: “Each night, he sat in the back of the cave, huffing and puffing till he thought he would burst, but not a single flame ever appeared, not a flicker.” And among dragons, who are all the time playing Fling a Flame and All Blaze Together, not with the ability to breathe fire will also be pretty disappointing indeed.

Ignis tells the story of how this young dragon finds himself–and, he hopes, his flame. Wandering away from the heart of Dragonland, Ignis talks to Poto the hippo and Loquax the parrot, and even meets a young human girl named Cara, with whom he spends afternoons eating strawberry ice cream, making daisy chains, and trying to make a decision whether it’s better to be a human or a dragon. (“infrequently it seemed as if being a human being and a dragon together used to be the best of all.”) But not until Ignis makes his way to a solitary, burned-out volcano does he in any case find his fate.

Much of Gina Wilson’s text here is lovely (“They sat on the dark shore and watched the almost invisible night gazelles stealing down to drink,” “All used to be soundless, save the faintest shushing of breezes and twittering of jewel birds…”), but it’s P.J. Lynch’s ethereal illustrations that, were you ready to breathe fire, might leave you breathless. With a touch of the Disney (in a good way), these carefully composed, wide watercolor-and-gouache scenes evoke Dragonland’s quiet beauty better than any words, from the blue green roll of Poto’s belly to the rose light limning Ignis and Cara on a late-night flight over the stars. (Ages 4 to 8) –Paul Hughes

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