(Book Cover Source: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26552999&referer=brief_results, accessed October 5, 2008)BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Prelutsky, Jack. 1993. The dragons are singing tonight. Ill. by Peter Sis. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN 068809645
2. SUMMARY
Jack Prelutsky, is the author of more than 50 well-loved poetry books for children, and in 2006, was named by the Poetry Foundation as the first Children's Poet Laureate of the United States. In 1993, Prelutsky turned his attention to the subject of dragons with The Dragons Are Singing Tonight. The book contains 17 poems, ranging from brief, four-line verses to longer, full-page accounts of the exploits of such diverse dragons as a mechanical dragon, a thunder dragon, a secret dragon, and one that resides in a computer. Some of the poems are whimsical, some are poignant, and some are scary. All are written with pronounced rhythm and rhyme. Many have surprising endings - as in how an ill dragon is cured, or a nasty little dragon that turns out to be a half-inch high. Each poem is presented on a two-page spread, illustrated by award-winning artist Peter Sis. The book opens with a table of contents and closes with brief biographies of Prelutsky and Sis.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
If one is familiar with Prelutsky's clever, silly, and often insightful style of poetry, than one turns with anticipation to what he will have to say on the fanciful topic of dragons. For the most part, he does not disappoint.
Several of the poems are extremely satisfying on every level. Whimsical in topic, tight in rhythm and rhyme, filled with evocative language, rich imagery, and closing with an unexpected twist, these poems leave the reader grinning and bemused. Examples include "I Wish I Had a Dragon"(an imaginative list of dragon qualities sought by a person whom we find out in the last line is the owner of a lazy dragon who sleeps all day), "Nasty Little Dragonsong" (a delightful list of descriptors, culminating with the discovery that the nasty little dragon is only a half-inch high), "My Dragon Wasn't Feeling Good" (the cure for this ill dragon is priceless), and "My Dragon's Been Disconsolate" (where the reader learns the dragon, " . . . cannot help but pout, since he defied a thunderstorm that put his fire out.")
Like the word "disconsolate" mentioned above, the poems are filled with marvelously rich words like "malevolent," "disparage," "cacophonous," and "obeisance." While this makes the reading level extremely difficult for younger children, it offers a wonderful opportunity for adults to share the poems and expand children's vocabularies.
Prelutsky also uses alliteration in the poems to good effect. "To sing in cacophonous chorus," and "fangs finely fashioned to pierce" are examples of this. He also uses assonance as well. "Fishes shiver in the ocean," and "It hisses and spits little fires" are examples of his use of assonance.
While all of the poems in the book are written with pleasing rhythm and rhyme, many of them suffer in comparison to those mentioned above. For readers who have come to expect a clever twist at the end of Prelutsky's poems, there is a sense of disappointment when it is not found in several of the poems. Some of the poems with a clever twist at the end are missing the evocative imagery. An example is the brief poem: "If you don't believe in dragons, it is curiously true, that the dragons you disparage choose to not believe in you."
If the reader is expecting all of the poems to reflect Prelutsky's funny style, the melancholy poems might come as a surprise. However, poignant poems such as "I Am My Master's Dragon," "A Dragon's Lament," and "Once They All Believed In Dragons," when juxtaposed with the humorous poems Prelutsky is known for, actually resonate more deeply as one reflects upon the insightful premises behind them. The scary poems such as "I Am An Amiable Dragon" ("You are free to pass unchallenged - but only if you dare!") and "I Am Boom!" (about a thunder dragon, and filled with repetitive phrases that get louder and louder) are more entertaining than scary. Finally, a few of the poems are rather ho hum. While whimsical, "I Have A Secret Dragon" holds none of the cleverness one has come to expect from Prelutsky. "I Am Waiting Waiting Waiting" (about a child waiting for a dragon egg to hatch) left this reader waiting for the poem to be over!
The illustrations by Peter Sis are unusual in that he used oil and gouache (opaque watercolors) over a gesso background (a technique which yields a brittle canvas susceptible to cracking), and surrounded the images with a gold frame, leaving the reader with the impression one was viewing an Old World painting. Colors are rather subdued, with each illustration predominately painted with a few select colors. Even the images for the modern topics are restrained, as in the poems "I Made A Mechanical Dragon" and "A Dragon Is In My Computer." Many of the paintings are extremely detailed, with each individual, tiny dragon scale, or brick in a building, depicted. Yet at the same time, the dragon's themselves are rather simplistic when compared to other artists' renderings of dragons. Occasionally, Sis is extremely clever, as when he subtly turns the hills and valleys above a castle into the shape of a lurking dragon in "Once They All Believed In Dragons."
As for my personal reaction, it is mixed. My daughter has been crazy about dragons since she was small. I bought a copy of this book for her when it was published. We both delighted in several of the poems, and came to skip over the less-than-satisfying ones on subsequent readings. She is passionate about art and has collected all types of dragon illustrations over the years. Thus, perhaps it is not fair that I find the illustrations in this book lacking in comparison to some of the amazing, fantasy dragons I have seen (and that my own child has drawn as an art major in college). Still, overall, if one is a dragon-lover, one can't help but smile at the clever and fanciful ways Prelutsky has depicted them.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS AND AWARDS:
ALA Booklist Editors' Choice Award
Horn Book Fanfare Award
Booklist: "There's a 'just right' quality to the verse that makes it a pleasure to read aloud. Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't sit on the shelf for long."
Christian Science Monitor: "These engaging, funny, and touching poems will delight readers with rhyme, rhythm, and wonderful words."
School Library Journal: "Although not all of the entries have Prelutsky's rollicking read-aloud quality, the richness of his language and the playfulness of the imagination are abundant; and Sis's illustrations are charmingly unique, sometimes deceptively simple, and certainly filled with the kind of playful wizardry that invites viewers to return again and again to these pages."
5. CONNECTIONS:
*As stated above, this book is probably more appropriate for older children and adults who can read it to younger children. That being said, it could serve as an excellent resource for launching a poetry discussion. One could focus on Prelutsky's work by pairing it with some of his other poetry titles such as:
Prelutsky, Jack. Gargoyles on the roof. ISBN 0688096433
Prelutsky, Jack. Scranimals. ISBN 0688178197
Prelutsky, Jack. For laughing out loud: Poems to tickle your funnybone. ISBN 0394821440
*One could also pair this with other poems about dragons such as:
Demarest, Chris L. I invited a dragon to dinner: And other poems to make you laugh out loud. ISBN 0399235671
Foster, John. Castle poems/Dragon poems. ISBN 1596466154
Foster, John, and Paul, Korky. Dragon poems. ISBN 0192763075
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