THE DRAGON MACHINE
by Helen Ward & illustrated by Wayne Anderson
A pleasant fantasy with more dreamlike quirkiness than substance. George, who is “ignored” (though by whom is unclear), begins to see dragons everywhere. He feeds them, but they are mischievous and messy, forcing him to consult the Encyclopedia of Dragons, which contains dire though unspecific warnings. So he finds a map of a great wilderness where dragons can be safe (“Here Be Dragons,” it says), builds an enormous flying machine, and brings them there. Falling asleep and waking up alone and sad, he’s soon fetched home by his parents, and is suddenly “no longer ignored or unhappy.” But why? Because of the fascinating machine? Because he ran away? The message is dubious and the ending vague, but the parental retrieval is comforting. Softly textured illustrations offer sweetness and dreamlike shifts of scale. This mild, gentle story is lightweight but peaks with the construction of the wonderfully offbeat dragon machine in the middle. (Picture book. 2-6)