My Father's Dragon (7 page)
As my father and the dragon passed over the Ocean Rocks they heard a tiny excited voice scream, "Bum cack! Bum cack! We dreed our nagon! I mean, we need our dragon!"
But my father and the dragon knew that nothing in the world would ever make them go back to Wild Island.
THE END
About the Author and the Illustrator
RUTH STILES GANNETT
wrote
My Father's Dragon
just a few years after her graduation from Vassar College in 1944. It was an immediate success, becoming a Newbery Honor Book, and was soon followed by two sequels,
Elmer and the Dragon
and
The Dragons of Blue/and.
All three dragon stories have been continuously in print in the more than 40 years since their publication. The author's other books include
Katie and the Sad Noise
and
The Wonderful House-Boat-Train.
She is married to the artist and calligrapher Peter Kahn. They have seven daughters and seven grandchildren.
RUTH CHRISMAN GANNETT
was already a well- established illustrator when she began collaboration with her stepdaughter on
My Fathers Dragon
and its sequels. Her pictures for these books are perhaps her most enduring work. Her illustrations may also be seen in the first edition of John Steinbeck's
Tortilla Flat
and in
Miss Hickory
by Carolyn S. Bailey. Mrs. Gannett was married to the late Lewis Gannett, daily book critic for the
New York Herald Tribune.
She died in 1979.
MY FATHER'S DRAGON
A Newbery Honor Book An ALA Notable Book
"Here is a real delight—a nonsense tale in which the ingenuity of the humor and the logic of the nonsense are irresistible. The text and decorative and amusing black-and-white pictures tell die story of a small boys trip to rescue an overworked dragon from a jungle island bristling with wild beasts."—
The Nm Yorker
"This is, without question, the funniest book that we have seen for a month of Sundays. It is also an exciting adventure story."
—Saturday Review
Read all three tales of My Father's Dragon, available from Random House
MY FATHER'S DRAGON ELMER AND THE DRAGON THE DRAGONS OF BLUELAND