Dragons Love Tacos
- whitneynicolle
- Nov 20, 2016
- 2 min read
This children's book is framed as a story of the narrator teaching a child how to prepare a taco meal for his dragon friends, and it's just as cute and funny as you probably imagine it being. The writing of this book is very humorous, filled with jokes about tacos and dragons alike, and I can see how children would laugh at it and enjoy the story. The illustrations are also fun and feature a wide variety of dragons (with plenty of tacos as well).
My favorite part is how the writing is framed perfectly for this book to be read out loud with audience participation. On many pages the narrator will ask the dragon a question, and the only clue to its answer is the expression on the dragon's face. This provides an opportunity for whoever's reading the book out loud to ask the audience what they think the dragon is thinking. The children can get involved with the story by figuring out what the facial expressions mean and then giving the dragons a voice.
There is also a lesson to be learned through the child and a mistake he makes in preparing the tacos. The narrator repeatedly tells you that dragons hate spicy salsa, and lists the reasons why by descriping how spicy foods like peppers upsets the dragons' tummies. But the child accidentally gives them mild salsa with peppers in it which leads to the dragons breathing fire and accidentally burning the house down. By not paying attention to the details the child made a mistake that had consquences. But it was okay in the end because the dragons then help the child rebuild the house, with some more (salsa-free) tacos as a thanks.
Overall I just think this would be a great book to read aloud in class, for the potential for audience participation if nothing else. I listened to an audiobook of the story that was narrated by the author and he did a great job of emphasizing the right words and pausing at moments where a child might want to speak up (such as the questions for the dragons). This audiobook could be a great guide for anyone planning a read aloud acitivity with the book.