The Knight and the Dragon

Kitten Kids

by Tomie dePaola

What happens when a sheepish knight and a not-so-fierce dragon fight for the very first time? Well, it's no ordinary battle since the knight has to go to the castle library to learn about dragon-fighting and the dragon must dig through his ancestor's things to find out how to fight a knight! "Spontaneity of line and feeling are backed by zesty colors and a jovial, tongue-in-cheek tone to which children can relate—a top springtime choice." — Booklist " There's a swirl of good-humored life to the book." — The New York Times Book Review

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Dragons, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Friendship

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.

He had a five-decade writing and illustrating career during which he published more than 270 books, including 26 Fairmount Avenue, Strega Nona, and Meet the Barkers.

Tomie dePaola and his work have been recognized with the Caldecott Honor Award, the Newbery Honor Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is not much writing here, but there is quite a story. A young knight has never fought a dragon and a young dragon never fought a knight. The two of them decided to read books on the subjects before issuing a challenge to each other, all while a librarian princess watches the story unfold.

While there is set up writing for the story, the book is mostly just pictures telling the story, there are several comedic events with the dragon and knight trying to learn their "jobs" while repeatedly falling. The art is fantastic and even though it is quite short due to the lack of words, it's one that delights my daughter and I find her narrating the story herself and occasionally doing voices for the characters. It's one that she wants me to read again and again, and every time is a blast for her.

Also, the ending is one of the most adorable conclusions one could imagine. 4/5 stars.

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you do when you need to fight a knight or a dragon but don't know how to go about it?



Obviously!

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Item 1: Dragon + Knight + Librarian Princess = Awesome.
Item 2: The solution to most problems in the book is more books.
Item 3: Librarian Princess is the hero.
Item 4: Make BBQ not war resolution.
Item 5: Tomie dePaola's drawings are adorable.

Conclusion: One of the best picture books ever.

[Megan Palasik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a speech-language pathologist and I like to use wordless (or almost wordless) books with my preschoolers sometimes to practice their speech sounds in a conversational context, as well as informally assess their sentence structure and story telling skills.

I first want to say that I love Tomie dePaola's books. His illustrations have a uniqueness about them where they show the story with a couple of extra details, but not so many details that the page is overwhelming and difficult for preschoolers to understand. His books use great vocabulary and story structure to them, with and without words.

This book is an almost wordless picture book. It is about a knight and a dragon. Each character has never fought the other before and decide that it's time to do so. However, before they fight, they must learn how to fight. Each finds a book and reads about how to do their respective parts. The knight reads about making armor and gets all of his gear ready. The dragon reads about swishing his tail and practicing looking fierce. Then they practice on dummies. When they are ready to fight, the line up, charge, and miss! In the end, they don't fight at all, but read new books about making and cooking a bar-b-q.

My students love this book! They love that it has a dragon and a fight! (except there isn't a fight in the end). I love that it introduces them to vocabulary like knight, shield, armor, helmet, lance, sword, castle, cave, and more! Great preschool book!

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be ready for a delicious little twist at the end! Very sweet and fun!

Ages: 4 - 8

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[Denis A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Half of the book has narrative and the other half is word-less. I might hold off introducing this one to little ones due to some of the more violent parts. That being said my three year old loves anything to do with dragons, dinosaurs, trucks, power tools, TMNT. But what draws him to the story is the cover that shows the dragon and knight. The part I found a little squeamish was the illustrated page of the knight honing all of his weapons in preparation to fight the dragon. Not anything horrible and the page is word less so adult readers can use their storytelling skills to avert attention from the weapons, make the best of it, or skip the page all together, but it was a bit unexpected. The story finishes strong but way too abrupt. Five stars for the story, minus one for the violence, add another for being a wordless-- five star story.

[Ms. B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coworker shared this wonderful and humorous book with me today. I was a little surprised I had never read it as I have been overseeing this media center for over 25 years and at one time included Tomie dePaola stories as part of my lessons. If you liked dePaola's Pancakes for Breakfast, The Popcorn Book or Michael Bird-Boy, you'll like this too.

[Micah Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so sick of this book! My twin boys have been fascinated with this story for two years now. We are swimming in books here at home, but month after month this one continues to find its way to the evening "cuddle up with a book" time. The lack of words has encouraged a lot of sound effects, and there is just enough animosity between the knight and dragon to make it a little bit scary. Despite the failure at destroying each other, the two ultimately become business partners. The example is sufficiently classic to fill a whole chapter of the well-known marketing book, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy. Make sure to look at some other DePaola titles, too -- my kids love them all.

[Melissa B]

Only 5 stars because Katharina loves it. Cute moral implications

[Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Children's Picture Books

Medieval era

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun take on the Dragon vs. Knight tale. I love that they went to the library to learn more about their quest. Our girls really enjoyed this book; we like all of Tomie dePaola's stories.

[Robert Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute tale of a young knight and a young dragon who prepare to battle each other for no particular reason.

[Amanda Grooms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book, and Z loves the illustrations. I enjoy reading this to him, and he loves having it read to him. I love hearing him say "dragon" (he just makes a short, throaty growl). <3

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Want to read a picture book about dragons and knights while you are 5,000 miles from home? Download this book through your library's Overdrive system.

It's the story of a knight who has never fought and a dragon who has never fought. They are prepping for their very first fight, and they will fight each other. The prepping itself is not terribly successful. On they go to the battle, and it, too, is a little awkward.

So why not repurpose all the war elements---armor, fire-breath---and enjoy a lovely barbecue instead?

Delightful.

[Esther May · Rating 4 out of 5]

The knight and the dragon is about not always following tradition. The knight is horrible at fighting, the dragon is awful as well. The finally figure out that they would rather not fight each other but work together for bigger and better things.

[Clive]

Not only a great knight and dragon story, but heralds the importance of libraries. Who knew this book existed!

[Lavender]

Another beloved dragon book.

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute book about a knight that is terrible at fighting dragons and a dragon that is terrible at fighting knights; and the princess that intervenes.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this to the kids. Very cute, the kids loved it.

[Melissa B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only give this 5 stars because Katharina adores it. The message is heart warming. The text to picture ratio is lacking greatly.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fun!

[Cloud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Child: I liked the letters the best about this book.

Me: This was fun, more pictures than words really, but I love the art style and will look for more books.

[Andrea Riffle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely adorable and so heartwarming! A knight and a dragon must learn to fight one another, as it's what their ancestors before them have done for generations. Both the dragon and the knight read books to gain understanding as to what they must accomplish. Ironically, the princess in this story is a librarian! But instead of fighting one another, the dragon and knight decide to open a restaurant together. The princess aids them by providing how-to books on this! There aren't many words on the pages, making the story easy for children to understand. The art is also lovely, even by today's standards! This is definitely a book I would recommend to a child or for a classroom library!

[Zee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a charming picture book for very young children with great illustrations and a story that is both sweet and funny. While this is very much a book for very young kids, it's got appeal for a wider audience, too. An adult reader can get through the whole text in, oh, I doubt it would take a whole minute, but then you'd be missing out on the clever details in the adorable artwork. Read this to your kids, read it yourself, it's great either way.

[Brooke Milone · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Knight and the dragon read how to fight each other. They read books and learn how to battle against each other, but they fail at it because they don't know how to fight. The princess gives them each a book about cooking and barbecuing. They end up being friends in the end and hangout with each other!

[Nick Swarbrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A near-perfect little book about how fighting is no solution. Told mostly through its lively, typical de Paola pictures, this is a light-hearted book to discuss conflict (and resolution) - and to raise the status of the librarian. It is only the librarian’s gender that gives me pause for thought about giving five stars.

[Sun Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, you can't go wrong with getting a Tomie dePaola book but this one is particularly brilliant! A really fun and clever story with beautiful and vivid illustrations. In addition, the book delivers an excellent message. A wonderful book! One of our new favorite books at home.

[Dionne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story about going against stereotypes of what you should be based on who you are as seen by others. As well as how to solve a problem together with a perceived adversary. Toddlers love this book to be read to them!

[Tom Ericksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book was cute. You don't often get stories about kind dragons, so when this ended with a collaboration I was shocked. The art is adorable, and this is another great book to read to younger kids who would liek to elaborate on the inner workings of a dragon's mind.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious. I enjoyed the build up to the fight and the fight itself, though without words, made me laugh. The best part was that it was a twist on the knight/dragon theme that wasn’t “the dragon doesn’t want to fight”. Delightful.