Dragon Night

Animator Krause creates a vintage look through dramatic, woodcutlike spreads tinted with fiery orange and midnight blue. “Georgie is afraid of the night,” the book begins, showing the boy in bed; “It’s too dark with the lights off.” As Georgie’s room decor reveals, he’s way into dragons, and in a burst of glowing light, one leaps forth from the child’s copy of St. George and the Dragon. The dragon is afraid, too—not of the night, but of the knight. “He always wants to fight,” it tells Georgie. So the two run away and share a glorious nighttime flight. Georgie’s a fan of the Knights, a baseball team, and when the two spot its mascot at a nighttime game that’s underway, the dragon realizes that their homophonic fears differ. Despite its greater size and strength, the dragon needs just as much comforting as the boy does, and they support one another as equals. The knight/night pun clanks a bit, depending for its effect on a sports mascot and a factory logo, but flying journeys and creatures in need of solace offer a promising strategy for bedtime reluctance of all sorts. Ages 3–7. [em](Jan.) [/em]