Dragons Can't Spell

by Susie Heinrichs, Christina Grall

Overview

Jimmy's dreams were usually very silly. But on this night - the night before the spelling bee, Jimmy's silly dreams never came...

For free "Dragons Can't Spell" lesson plans and other teacher resources go to www.sisandchrys.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525556654
Publisher:	FriesenPress
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Series:	A Sis&chrys Book
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.13(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Susie & Christina are sisters: Sis = Susie (big sister) & Chrys = Christina (little sister). They love hilarity, silliness, and laughing at each other. Much to Susie's annoyance, Christina has always been better at drawing than her, even though Susie loathed that fact immensely. So, naturally - Susie writes the words and Christina draws the pictures. Together they make art in the form of books, and with enough time, their houses will burst with Sis&Chrys books. The illustrations in this book were all hand-cut out of cardboard, scrapbook, and tissue paper. Many things were needed to accomplish such a tedious feat: the tinniest of scissors, the steadiest of hands, and unending perseverance.

Editorial Reviews

★ 2019-11-21
A boy overcomes spelling-bee anxiety by imagining the misadventures of his stuffed dragon in this debut picture book from sisters Heinrichs and Grall.

Jimmy, a blond, pale-skinned boy, often has silly dreams of animal adventures,as depicted in Grall's opening, brightly colored cut-paper illustration. But the night before a spelling bee, his dreams turn to nightmares. He wakes up and confesses to Fire Breath, his stuffed dragon, that he's forgotten all his spelling-bee words. But he comes up with a plan: "What if he stayed home and sent Fire Breath in his place?" As Jimmy imagines the resulting antics—which culminate in the fire-breathing dragon burning down the auditorium—the boy realizes that it would be unfair to send an unprepared dragon to a spelling bee. Also, he now remembers all the words he'd memorized. Over the course of the story, a large ape in a picture above Jimmy's bed offers easy-to-read commentary. Indeed, author Heinrichs uses accessible vocabulary throughout the book, and the illustrations effectively move the story forward on pages with little or no text. Grall's beautiful paper creations vividly reveal Jimmy's inner thoughts, and the silly conceit allows the creators to effectively show how creativity can help one cope with stress.

Young readers will sympathize with the anxious protagonist and giggle at the dragon's well-illustrated adventures.

Kirkus Reviews