Written by Martin Baynton
Illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton
Scholastic NZ - $19.50
All the dragons on Dragon Island are fierce, fiery and
ferocious. Except for Norman.
And Norman tries desperately to change the others, finally
realising that sometimes, others won’t change their ways,
and the only thing to do is walk away.
This book has been written on two levels – one as an
entertaining story for children, but on a deeper level the
author sees it as a tool to use in situations of domestic
violence, with the message that we can try to change the
behaviour around us, but if we can’t then the best thing to
do it to walk away.
Well known author of Jane and the Dragon, Fifty the
Tractor, Why Do You Love Me? and many more
Illustrated by the author’s daughter Terri, herself
shortlisted for the 2013 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards
and the 2013 APA Book Design Awards
A story to facilitate discussion on domestic violence
And here is a recent review from Kiwi Reviews:
The is simply a gorgeous story book with a strong message underpinning it. The title of the book grabbed the attention of my four year old. He is really into anything about dragons. Dragons are something that a lot of children get excited about, so they were a good choice on the part of the author, Martin Baynton.
The illustrations in the book are very bright and colourful and included some fine details. Each page presents lots for children to look at and talk about. Mr four, enjoyed searching one of the early pages to work out who Norman was. The text encourages children to look around the page to match in their own mind the different types of dragons that they seen. When I was reading the story to my children, I didn't stop enough to enjoy the illustrations for myself. I had to pop back to really see how amazing they were. I would recommend taking your time as you read to really appreciate the illustrations as they tell a story by themselves.
The way the story is written is rather interesting. There are a couple of instances of sections which rhyme, whereas the rest of the book is written an everyday writing style. I didn't notice this when I was reading the book, so it didn't stand out in a negative or positive way but I picked it up when I was looking back through it again.
The storyline is delightful and both my children were hooked when I was reading it to them. The whole way through the story, Norman stood up for his beliefs and was willing to help the other dragons when they needed it most. He was ok with being different. Even though he came through for the other dragons, they weren't willing to change for him and kept at their old ways.
The ending of the story is not the "happy ever after" ending that I was expecting. That would have been too predictable and I like that. My expectation was that Norman would manage to get the other dragons to see the error of their ways and change. Life isn't necessarily like that. I enjoyed the fact that Martin Baynton has used the end of the story to highlight the fact that sometimes no matter how much you try, you can't make things better and you have to know when to have the courage to stand up and be different. Sometimes walking away from the bad behaviour of the crowd is the only way to be happy and true to yourself. It also shows that when one person stands up for what they believe in that others may choose that as the best way to live also. The small speckled dragon followed Norman as he left the island to see what the world had to offer.
This book has promoted some discussion with Mr Four about what to do if you think that other people are behaving badly and whether it is ok to leave the group if they are acting against what you believe in. Even though he is only young, he had quite a bit to say about the topic. I think that this book could be used when discussing negative behaviour or bullying at school and that it is ok to stand up and be different.
A great read and a chance to get into some meaty discussions with children after reading it.
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