View source for Dragon Magic (Red Bananas) by Pippa Goodhart and Lesley Danson

{{infobox1 
|title= Dragon Magic (Red Bananas)
|author= Pippa Goodhart and Lesley Danson 
|reviewer= Jo Heffer
|genre=Confident Readers  
|summary= Jess and her blacksmith father have to make a strong iron gate for the king in order to keep the strangers out. They rely on their dragon's puff to soften the metal but unfortunately, the puff has run out. They need to get a new dragon soon and complete the gate but will they have enough time? 
|rating=4.5 
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|pages=48 
|publisher= Egmont
|date= August 2009
|isbn=978-1405246118  
|cover=1405246111
|aznuk=1405246111
|aznus=1405246111
}}

''Dragon Magic'' is a cute tale that transports children to a magical world of castles and dragons. It tells the story of a small girl called Jess and her blacksmith father, Big John, who rely on their dragon's breath to soften the iron that they use to make things. Problems start when Big John is making a new gate for the king but Huff, their dragon, has run out of puff.  Soon some dragon eggs are found and before long a new baby called Puff hatches.  She soon becomes part of the family and sets to work helping to make the gate. However, the king is worried that the gate won't be finished and he has spied strangers heading towards the city. It is a race against time especially when Puff shows signs of becoming ill. What else could possibly go wrong? 

My daughter really enjoyed this story and kept getting excited about what would happen next. It's quite a simple storyline but one that will appeal to young imaginations particularly with the elements of magic that are included. 

This very accessible book is written in short chapters which makes it manageable for newly confident readers. My six-year-old daughter liked the fact that she could read the story in sections and found that the chapters provided good signals for appropriate places to pause. Also as there are only forty-eight pages in total we were easily able to read the book over three nights. 

The text is nicely interspersed with some lovely colourful illustrations that really support the reader's understanding. There are also speech bubbles on many of the pictures that add to the overall enjoyment. The vocabulary used is very apt for young readers which makes this book ideal for children who are starting to read independently. The words are interesting as well as being ones that they are likely to know and understand. 

This book belongs to the Egmont Bananas series of which there are three levels. This Red Banana book is part of the higher level which introduces children to longer stories that are divided into chapters.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag. 

If you think your child might enjoy this book, you could also take a look at [[The Trouble with Dragons by Debi Gliori]].

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[[Category: Pippa Goodhart]] [[Category:Lesley Danson]]