Genre: Children's Fantasy
Subject: A boy runs away from home to a strange island to rescue an imprisoned dragon
This is one of the earliest stories I can remember reading from my childhood. I owned a copy once, although it was lost a long time ago. The story is fantastic and exciting, and shows extreme cleverness on the part of the main character, Elmer. Each chapter is its own little adventure with its own miniature climax and resolution. At the same time, each adventure leads to Elmer's ultimate goal and they only serve to make his success that much greater. The illustrations, done by Ruth Chrisman Gannett, are absolutely amazing, and they do a great job of helping to place the reader in the story. My three year old son loves this story, as do I, so I have to recommend this story to anybody that enjoys a good adventure. While it may not have application within a group reading, it would be good to have on hand for individual reading.
