ME AND MY DRAGON

Biedrzycki returns with a follow-up story of these two friends (Me and My Dragon, 2011), with a focus on Dragon’s fear of Halloween.

A boy and his oversized, bright red dragon enjoy many of the same things: birthday parties, parades and fireworks. But when the end of October nears, Dragon is not enthused. “He’s scared of werewolves. Zombies give him the creeps. And he hides whenever he sees a mummy.” The boy tries explaining that these creatures “aren’t real,” but Dragon is still scared. Thus begins a quest to make Dragon a costume so he can better understand and experience “what Halloween is all about.” As the boy and his dragon try out various dress-up ideas, readers will be mildly entertained by the humor infusing the digitally rendered illustrations. Dragon is first unsuccessfully wrapped in a mess of toilet paper as a mummy, then he’s unable to see where he is going in his Robodragon get-up, freaks out at his reflection in the mirror as a zombie and is utterly uncomfortable in a ballerina tutu. Of course, all ends well. Children coping with their own anxieties about Halloween as well as kids stumped for a costume to choose for trick-or-treating will appreciate the determination these two characters display. Although the book has its merits, though, the language is ploddingly pedestrian and concludes predictably.

Not a must-have.