There's+A+Dragon+in+my+Sleeping+Bag

Review By: Jenna Filakovsky
Author: James Howe Illustrator: David S. Rose Original Publication Date: 1994 Publisher: Atheneum Books Price: $7.99 Ages: Pre-K - 2nd grade Genre: Fiction
 * Bibliographic Data: **

**Author Biography:** James Howe was born August 2, 1946 in Oneida, New York. Throughout his career as an author he was written more than 12 children's book and is best known for his //Bunnicula// series. Since Howe was younger, he has had a love for language and stories. He wrote and performed his first play at the very young age of 7. Howe is successful as a writer because he is able to relate personally to his readers. All of his books contain humor, excitement, and adventure and many of these books also contain serious elements. When Howe is not writing he enjoys outdoor activities, traveling, movies, theater, and reading.

**Summary:** The main character is a little boy named Alex. The little boy always plays with his older brother but one day the older brother, Simon, tells his brother there is a dragon sleeping in his Alex's bag. Simon can see it, but his brother cannot, which leads readers to assume Simon has an imaginary dragon friend. Alex can no longer do things he used to do with his brother, because the imaginary dragon friend, Dexter, is doing these things with Simon. Alex makes up an imaginary camel friend named Calvin, who begins to do everything with Alex. Both of the boys imaginary friends take both of the boys spots, and the boys no longer play with each other. The brothers begin to realize they both had more fun before they had imaginary friends. Simon one day tells his brother that Dexter the dragon moved away to Boston. The next day Calvin moves to Boston as well to be with Dexter. At the end of the story the boys have sleep overs again and play with each other.


 * Book Review: **__There's a Dragon in my Sleeping Bag__ is a fictional story about two brothers and their imaginary friends. Children who have siblings or best friends can relate to this story. Also children who have had an imaginary friend can relate to the story because they know what it is like to have this type of friend. The brothers both create imaginary friends, and both feel left out of each others lives. Howe resolves this problem with humor, by claiming both of the imaginary friends moved to Boston to be with each other. Howe even manages to slip in an affectionate message at the end of the story by talking about the bond of brothers. The brothers at first create imaginary friends, but realize that they miss each other. The brothers show affection to each other by forgetting about their imaginary friends and focusing on each other.

**Analysis:** The illustrations in this book help to add to the story Howe is telling. Throughout the story the illustrations help the children to imagine what both the imaginary dragon and camel both look like. The children can see that the dragon has smooth green skin with a pointy tail. The camel is funny looking though it looks like a normal camel, because it is wearing glasses and shoes only on his back hoofs. The children can see that the camel looks like Alex, the boy who made him up. The students can refer to the pictures when reading or listening to the story. The boys both look sad when they realize they no longer have time for each other because of the imaginary characters they created. The children can see that the boys are sad, and infer that the boys are sad because the text does not explicitly say this. Children therefore can make inferences by looking at the illustrations in the book.

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