Many children's books nowadays use well known cartoon characters to base stories on or they focus so much on education that they become repetitive and too much like homework. As much as I enjoy Baby Einstein books for speech development and teaching my toddler new words, and as much as she loves reading about Dora or Arthur, I long for books similar to what I grew up with – original creative books like those of Dr. Seuss that are just plain fun to read. I am saddened by the shortage of books that are tongue twisting giggle fest delights.
Enter Denton the Dragon and the Tale of Tear River. My spirits brightened to introduce my daughter to a children’s book that is both whimsical, colorful and has an underlying message to teach kids.
After reading the book once I was instantly struck with the similarities to Dr. Seuss with the rhyming verses that had me tripping over my tongue a few times trying to read the verses right. My daughter would laugh listening to me stumble in spots and I found myself giggling to, and having to reread a line again to get it right! The book also reminded me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as it is filled with Rock Candy Mountains, chocolate caves, fizzy pop fountains and milk shake spewing volcanoes. The setting resembles Candy Land with its ice cream cone trees and lollipops and mushrooms capped with icing.
Robert Westall has written a story of a huge purple dragon (thankfully with no likeness to Barney) named Denton who usually has such a nice white smile but has been stricken with a toothache. His tears wash away the home of Filbert the mouse and to save Denton Filbert sends a message in a bottle to the lanky eccentric man The Good Dentist to come quick. The Good Dentist wastes no time in yanking out the affected tooth and is able to recycle the tooth into a home for Filbert.
The message of the story is simple – don’t eat so much candy and brush regularly. I like how Denton stopped crying as soon as the tooth was pulled – letting kids know there is no need to fear the Dentist, and that their toothaches will feel better after not necessarily being pulled out but at least after being worked on by the Dentist.
Westalls wife Bonnie Lemaire provided the bright flowing illustrations that really completed the book. A silly rhyming tale really needed picture pages as creative and unique as the story. Lemaire creates greeting cards, giftware and web page design as well as children’s book illustrations. She has a website showcasing her work and if you would like to have a peek at these illustrations there is a link that will take you to the pages of this book at http://www.bonniella.com
Westall himself has an illustrative background having been a freelance cartoonist for magazines and newspapers as well as being the caricaturist for Canada’s Wonderland theme park in Toronto.
Spanning 18 thin paper pages this hardbound book is a delight to look at and read. Besides it making me crave all the delicious looking sweets adorning the pages it has given my daughter and I book that we can read for fun, one that makes us laugh at the silly rhymes and tongue twisting verses.
Due to it being quite a challenge to read without messing the words up I do not think it is a good book for teaching kids new to books to read as it may get them frustrated when they are tongue tied – but for a parent to read this to a young toddler makes a perfect silly time book. An older child would probably have fun trying to navigate the rhymes if they felt confident in their reading ability.
As this is Westalls first children’s book, I look forward to him putting pen to paper once again and developing more quirky tales to hopefully be complemented by Lemaires vibrant art for us to enjoy and to bring me back to the types of whimsical stories I liked as a child.
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