Lost in a Good Book

Published: 1st October 2024
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Illustrator: Devin Elle Kurtz
Pages: 42
Format: Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

The heroic tale of a tiny dragon with a heart of gold and a taste for treats! A scrumptious picture book for fans of funny fairytales and fantastic beasts.

Ember has always been different from the other dragons. His fearsome roar sounds more like a polite sneeze, and when he breathes fire, the villagers just pat his head and say awwww.

Ember fears he’ll never collect a respectable hoard of gold until a chance encounter with a baker causes his fortunes to turn (and his stomach to grumble). As the little dragon soon discovers, the gold you make is way better than the gold you steal—and gold that is shared? That’s best of all.

The story is really sweet. It’s simple but heartfelt and I loved the message that there is a place for everyone. The story is of a town plague by gold stealing dragons and the little dragon who can’t steal gold but finds something just as precious.

The accompanying illustrations are gorgeous. I loved the layout and how the vast two page spread worked alongside the little snippets of scenes. The narrative is sparse and dialogue does a lot of storytelling but it is a story that doesn’t need a lot of words.

I liked the minimal dialogue and the space for the illustrations to do the storytelling. It brings a lot of quiet moments and contemplation as the story goes on without needing to over explain. In a way it could almost be a book without words but the dialogue brings heart to the story. I think it’s just the illustrations are so beautiful they could easily be prints or posters.

It’s a satisfying and sweet story and I loved the different take on gold, and how solutions benefit everyone.

You can purchase The Bakery Dragon via the following

QBD |  Booktopia

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible