Posted on January 6, 2009 - by

Books We Love: Jane and the Dragon

A bit about the book…
We first were introduced to the characters of Jane and the Dragon during the tv show of the same name in the qubo block on NBC Saturday mornings.  Kate instantly fell in love with Jane, and the CGI by Weta workshops (think Lord of the Rings trilogy) was pretty cool, too.  We’ve since found the books and have enjoyed them even more.

What we loved…
Martin Baynton has found a fresh way to address character issues through this series.  In this book, the moral of the story is to follow your heart and do something unexpected.  By the end of the book, I was in tears as Jane, who was supposed to grow up to be a lady-in-waiting is able to finally become what she really wants to be – a knight.

Age appropriate…
Kate, who is 5, enjoyed the book immensely, especially since the heroine of the story gets to become something out of the ordinary from most princess books.  Ethan, who is 3.5,  liked the dragon parts in particular (hello, he IS a boy), but my 2yo, Karis wasn’t exactly attentive.  Probably best for the upper pre-school to lower elementary crowd.

From the author…

Fairy tales are tough on girls.  Within their cruel pages, girls scrub floors, eat poisoned apples, sleep for centuries and are only saved when a handsome prince arrives to sweep them off their blistered knees into a world of Happily Ever After.  Not so Jane.  Jane saves herself and she most definitely does not want to live happily ever after.  She wants adventure, danger, challenge – and ‘happy’ just isn’t enough.

Check it out…
Jane and the Magician is equally as good a story with a great lesson about apologies and forgiveness, including forgiveness of oneself, without even using those ‘big people’ words.  I’m ready for the next in the series!