My oldest daughter is almost seven years old, and she is in the first grade. She has a sweet little best friend, and I have struck up a friendship with the girl’s mother. We have a lot in common: our oldest daughters are only a month apart and were born in the same hospital and delivered by the same doctor. Her son and my twins are also the same age, and will start kindergarten together in a few months.

My friend and I both love the Scholastic book club flier that our girls get each month, and she was the one who told me about Not Your Typical Dragon, and how her children just loved it. I hadn’t ordered it when it appeared in the flier, so when I saw it amongst the picture books at the Book Fair, I definitely did a little happy dance.

Not Your Typical Dragon is a picture book written by Dan Bar-el and illustrated by Tim Bowers. This is the story of Crispin, a dragon who is about to turn seven years old. In dragon culture, this is the age at which dragons are endowed with the ability to breathe fire. Disaster strikes when Crispin is poised to light the candles on his cake with fire breath: whipped cream comes out of Crispin’s mouth instead of fire! Read more