THE TRUTH ABOUT DRAGONS

THE TRUTH ABOUT DRAGONS by Julie Leung. Illustrated by Hanna Cha.

This gorgeous picture book is the bedtime story a mother tells to her young son about the dragons from two different cultures, Eastern and Western. In the story the boy takes two separate trips in which he visits each of his grandmothers. One grandmother, who is European, tells him the legends of medieval dragons. The second grandmother, who is Asian, tells him the myths of the Asian culture. Both contain dragons, interestingly, but both portray dragons in completely different lights. European legends portray dragons are fierce cave dwellers who hoard piles of golden treasure. Asian stories tell of dragons who contain deistic characteristics. They often live in the sky and control natural elements. (Anyone read the Chinese Menu book of myths I shared during the Chinese New Year? Several of the stories contain dragons.) This young boy is obviously a mix of these two cultures. He is Eurasian. His mother tells him that in life sometimes people are forced to pick one heritage or the other, but she assures him that both paths are for his discovery, and that he has two "wise" grandmothers that cannot wait to share the journey with him.

The concept and the artwork of this picture book are beautiful. Before I knew that this book was a Caldecott Winner, I was overwhelmed with the illustrations. They are breath taking. I do have a "heads up" to talk about though.

HEADS UP- This book does mention deities such as the Moon Goddess and like mentioned earlier, give similar qualities to dragons. This may be a reason to wait on sharing it with a young child. I personally find these tales from other cultures interesting and enjoy sharing them, but I also try and not open the doors to confusion in young children's minds.