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Cargando... The Dragon of Lonely Island (1998)por Rebecca Rupp
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. A fun story with depth obvious enough for a young reader, but still interesting for an older elementary child. The characterization is a little flat, but the children in the story have flaws enough. The three-headed dragon (three persons, one creature) perceives their flaws and relates past memories that demonstrate empathy and wisdom, helping them all get along better and grow up a little. Three kids are off to spend the summer with their Great Aunt Mehitabel on Lonely Island. They are surprised to discover, on the island, a very old (20,000 years old!) three-headed dragon.The dragon tells the kids stories from the past and the kids find thatvisiting an elderly aunt in an ancient house on a faraway island can be more fun than they might have anticipated.
I have to disagree about this book, as I thought the chapter on Mei Lan in Ancient China is really inappropriate. Mei Lan is described as a "worthless girl" repeatedly in this chapter. This book was read by a fourth grade teacher in front of my daughter (who was adopted from China as an infant) and it was very harmful for her to hear. Even the happy ending 20 pages later did not balance hearing about a girl who looked like her being described as worthless. No child is worthless. Should this book be read in school? Even in the Chinese culture, which has a harsh attitude toward female children to this day, the birth of a girl is called a "small happiness" and the birth of a boy is a "big happiness." The first few lines of this book describe Mei Lan as "knowing that she was only a worthless girl." I find this chapter disturbing and inappropriate, especially to be read by a teacher in the classroom who doesn't negate this attitude STRONGLY. By the way, my daughter was bullied the rest of the year by someone in her classroom after this book was read. I don't know if there is cause and effect here, but this book and teacher set the tone for a really awful school year. Pertenece a las series
Three children spend the summer with their mother on a secluded island where they discover a three-headed dragon living in a cave and learn what it means to be a Dragon Friend. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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So it's really four stories in one. The children, their explorations and interactions and each of the dragon's stories, which are nicely interwoven. The children have a relatively quiet vacation- they explore the old grand house, go swimming and have picnics, bake cookies and play board games etc. but really they are always waiting for the day when they can visit the dragon again. Each has a difficulty or personality trait that the dragon addresses in its stories, giving them life lessons as it were. The oldest feels put-upon by having to be in charge, the middle child is something of a hoarder and doesn't like to share, the youngest lacks self-confidence and is easily frightened.
Dragon stories: first of a young girl in China during a time when girls were not valued. She finds the dragon injured in the forest, but nobody believes her when she tries to get help. Second story is about an orphan boy who goes to sea as cabin boy. Once he gets to the ship he realizes it isn't at all how the recruiting sailor portrayed things, but it's too late to turn back. He is mistreated on board and soon finds out the crew are actually pirates. He warns a ship they're about to attack and for that, gets dumped on an island, wondering how he's going to escape danger and get back home. Then he finds a cave full of treasure . . . Third story is about two children and their father, who are in a small airplane (back when planes were a very new thing) travelling across the world. They crash on an island, the father is injured and the children have to figure out how to survive. They find the dragon living in the forest, and ask it for help but it refuses annoyed being disturbed.
Of course each story is teaching the children something: how to be brave and face down the status quo, the value of sharing, resourcefulness and attempting things even if you don't know how it might turn out. For how short the book is, I really liked how well the characters and the stories they heard were depicted. And yes, the dragon talking to the children is the same dragon featured in each story. There's no high-stakes exciting adventures, especially with the three main children; this book has a very different appeal. The dragon itself is polite and mild-mannered, although it does at times get annoyed with the children. Sometimes its abashed reply to some lack of manners or compassion being pointed out was a bit- odd, for a dragon, but I think it's just driving the point home: this isn't a wild, angry, fierce beast. And the dragon likes to point out how wrong all the stereotypes about dragons eating princesses are!
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