Young King Arthur, troubled by nightmares, doubts he is the rightful king of England. One rainy night, the wizard Merlin tells Arthur the story of dueling dragons and a fateful clash between good and evil, which reveals the surprising secret of the boy king's true legacy.

Jane Yolen is known for her innovative explorations of Arthurian mythology, but this book just missed the mark for me. Its short format didn't really allow much room for her to get into the story, but the framing narrative was an interesting touch. We often hear about Arthur being raised by his foster father and the events surrounding the pulling of the sword from the stone, but rarely does anyone explore the transitory period between Arthur's rural childhood and assuming the role of King of England. It's easy to forget that these legendary characters have human emotions and moments of weakness, and the small moments of their mundane lives (like a young boy being plagued by dreams of fighting dragons) are often overwritten for the larger storylines. Yolen deals with themes like these in her later books for young adults, so we can forgive her more introductory story here as a prompt to get younger readers into more of her books. ( )

This was a cool little book about Merlin and Arthur Pendragon. that tells the mythical origin of Merlin and Uther Pendragon before Arthur became king. The language in this story was very descriptive and clear with patterns to it. For example, the sentence structure is simple yet enticing: "Years went by and Emrys grew up, terribly alone, dreaming dreams he did not understand: dreams of a shaking tower, dreams of fighting dragons." The language is elusive to what is to come in the book, making the reader want to continue on. The other thing I enjoyed in this book was the characters. The story mainly focuses on Emrys, the prophetic boy who saw the bad king Vortigern's demise since the beginning of his life. The boy went from having bad dreams that he didn't understand, to seeking knowledge and making predictions about things such as the weather, to actually prophesying the dragons under the tower that Vortigern wanted built, and to the end where Emrys turns out to be Merlin. This was a cute little story that was fun to read. The message in this story is that you should listen to your gut- even if you don't have prophetic powers, our bodies and consciences have a way of knowing when something bad is about to happen and what people/things we should avoid in our lives. ( )

In the story of Merlin and the Dragons, young King Arthur cannot sleep because he is disturbed by a dream of a boy without a father who became kind by pulling a sword from a stone. So he visits Merlin the Magician and Merlin tells the boy a story to soothe him. The illustrations have depth and feeling and allow the reader to be plunged into another world. Merlin tells of dragons, prophecies, fire, and defeat and in the end we learn that Merlin was telling his own story and the story of Arthur's father. This book is great for those with fantastical imaginations and those who could learn to trust themselves. ( )

This was by far one of my favorite picture books so far, and one I would buy for my own collection. The illustrations and text worked wonderfully together. The text is geared towards a more advanced picture book reader, but perhaps one who is not quite ready for chapter books. I really liked this modern interpretation of the history between King Arthur and Merlin. ( )