Why Do We Like Dragons So Much?

Almost every group of people can find a dragon somewhere in their ancient myths, legends or folktales. In fact, dragons are often one of the first magical animals children associate with stories they enjoy. Here are a few dragon's and books with dragons I remember from my own childhood:

Puff the Magic Dragon
A Chinese Dragon
Leviathan
Bibliotheca
Argonautica
Beowolf
King Arthur
Jabberwocky
My Father's Dragon 
Voyage of The Dawn Treader
Smaug in The Hobbit
Earthsea Cycle Series by Ursula K. Le Guin's 
Falkor in The Never Ending Story
Norbert, Hungarian Horntail, Welsh Green, Swedish Short-snout and Chinese Fireball in The Harry Potter Series

Here are some great websites that have awesome, never ending lists of books with dragon's in them. 

Pragmatic Mom
From The Mixed Up Files...
Goodreads List
The Saffron Tree

So why dragons? Why do they fascinate us so much? Lucinda Hare in her article on the blog We Love This Book said, "Authors love dragons for the very same reasons as their readers – because they open up our imaginations. And perhaps that is the key to why dragons are such an enduring feature of children’s literature. Dragons let us hold on to the magic of childhood when other dreams are left behind. Dragons allow our imaginations to take flight. Dragons give us all wings." —See complete article here.

Here are two new middle grade books I thought you might also enjoy.

Diego's Dragon by Kevin Gerard

About The Book: An eleven-year-old Latino boy wins a district-wide writing contest for sixth graders. When an author visits his school to award his prize, Diego Ramirez has no idea how much his life is about to change.Nathan Sullivan hands Diego his statue, a handsome, glistening black dragon. He shakes his hand and leaves him to his friends. The students crowd around Diego, asking for permission to hold it.After hearing the name Magnifico spoken aloud by family and friends, Diego awards it to his new dragon. If he only knew how fitting the name was, he might have known what lay ahead. Magnifico is the leader of the Sol Dragones, dragons that live within the magical fires of the sun. Nathan Sullivan is the earth's connection to the mysterious creatures. It is his task to find Magnifico's guide.As Magnifico comes to life he becomes quite mischievous, playing tricks on Diego to embarrass him. As he discovers his bloodline, however, Diego assumes greater control over his dragon and his destiny. In the climactic journey, he frees his people and suffers a terrible loss by guiding Magnifico to their goal.

Fury of the Storm Wizard by Shauna E. Black

About The Book:  A storm is brewing in Silver Valley, where an unusual string of mining accidents has locals whispering of dark magic. When the marshal sent to investigate goes missing, his young assistant Boone turns to Jesse and Eliza for help. But Jesse is a new mage with raw magic, and Eliza is hiding a secret. The three must learn to trust each other before the valley is destroyed and they are ripped away from everything they hold dear.




What's your favorite book about dragons?