The Book of Dragons Paperback – May 4, 2016

Nesbit's wonderful prose appears here in a series of short stories involving dragons. Delightful and imaginative, they can be enjoyed by young and old alike. This is an inexpensive edition that does include small black and white illustrations. The book arrived with a damaged cover and warped pages. I intended it as a gift for a niece so I am quite disappointed. At least it cost very little. If you are considering this book you should probably get one of the other available editions.

If you already enjoy Nesbit's writing, you'll enjoy this wonderful collection of short stories. Each one has it's own dragon, playing both large and small roles in the stories, along with princesses and heroes and strange creatures and unbelieveable delightful things. I loved the boy who saved the town eaten whole by a dragon, and yet never believed by anyone despite his efforts, and the dragon cured by bread and milk, and the boy who saved the princess with love and arithmetic on their side. I'll enjoy re-reading with my children!

Our 10, 7 & 4 year old LOVED this book but do be aware that even though the illustrations are listed at the front of this Kindle edition there are actually none to be found! Or at least not in my copy! 8 different tales of dragons with princesses, boys and girls etc.The stories included are as follows:The Book of Beasts - Lionel becomes king at a young age and opens up a book belonging to his grandfather out of which flies a butterfly, a blue bird of Paradise and a red dragon.Uncle James, or the Purple Stranger - Princess Mary Ann and Tom live on Rotundia where the animals are all the wrong sizes. Animals, like elephants, that we think should be large are small and animals that are normally small, like mice, are large on Rotundia.The Deliverers of their Country - Effie gets something in her eye, only to discover it is a tiny dragon! More dragons start appearing everywhere. How to get rid of them?The Ice Dragon, or do as you are Told - George and Jane disobey their parents by going out of their garden one evening and taking the "road" from London to the North Pole where they encounter the Ice Dragon and the Sealskin Dwarfs.The Island of the Nine Whirlpools - story of a princess stranded on an island with a dragon and a griffin because the king was very cross with his wife for not specifying that she wanted a son! Nigel, a sailor boy watches the whirlpools and notices that for 5 minutes every day they are still. Once on the island he then has to do his sums to figure out exactly when that time will coincide with the dragon being asleep for 3 minutes.The Dragon Tamers - John (a blacksmith), his wife and baby are humble people. How can they tame the dragon that appears?The Fiery Dragon or the Heart of Stone and the Heart of Gold - Story of Sabrinetta, a princess and Elfin, the owner of 75 pigs.Kind Little Edmund, or the Caves and the Cockatrice - Edmund is a very curious little boy & so wants to discover the source of the rumblings he hears. No one believes his "stories" ever so he is often caned by the headmaster. (Please remember this book was written back when discipline in schools by caning was the norm.)This is a keeper for our library. A wonderful classic, well written, imaginative book! I would have given this book 5 stars if the illustrations were included as they are really good.

If your kids like dragons then they will love this book. The words are of a different time and cater to kids but I found it delightful.

I am so glad I discovered this little book. The stories are short enough to read in a matter of minutes so it would make a delightful bedtime book or anytime you wanted to share some special time with your child or grand child. She uses lots of fun imagery that makes the dragons very "real".I have the kindle version which has no pictures and still enjoy it but I imagine the pictures would make it even more special. OR you can be creative and draw your own.

Edith Nesbit was a wonderful writer. Everything she wrote was completely original and really well written. As a childI was enchanted with the British Fantasies she wrote, like Four children and It, and the Enchanted Castle. I happened to find the book of Dragons for Kindle, and thought I would take a detour from adult reading just for fun. I would recommend it for any child-- I think the stories in it would make great read aloud bedtime reading. Inventive and creative, and loads of fun.

A delightful collection of story stories with tongue in cheek morals and a delightful balance between imagination, nonsense and social commentary. Imagine Lemony Snicket providing the tour bus commentary through some undiscovered country invented by Lewis Carroll... Yeah, something a bit like that, only better.

A book of fairy tales which clearly reflects the time when it was written and many negative aspects of the society of that time: sexism is in every page, undermining women and girls intelligence, skills and rights. The social classism embedded is quite shocking, in this book rich people can basically do anything they please, and if that anything tramples others rights it is not a problem as long as the others belong to the "populace". Definitely not the education kids should receive, besides, violence against children is depicted as a common practice in several stories of the book. I'd keep this book far away from any kind until they are adults and can understand the oppressive times and the historical context the book was written in.

I didn't know Edith Nesbit's work until very recently and oh my, I was missing on an incredible author! Her stories are enchanting and fantastic, so clever! I'd love to have found her as a child, but even at 30, I was amazed by her narrative.If you enjoy classics and fantasy, read this author and this book!

great book nice story well written

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland and all its great nonsense . A must read for fans of the genre!

I read this book as I thought it would tell me about the dragons but it contains some incredibe stories that no one has ever read. After reading it I even brought the orignal copy of this very book. I love it.

Me encanta todo cuanto escribió E Nesbit , sigue siendo la escritora de libros infantiles preferida por muchos he intentado encontrar sus libros en Español para mis nietos, pero sin éxito . Mientras tanto voy recabando copias de sus libros en Inglés . Esta es una colección de cuentos bonitos y divertidos , personalmente prefiero sus libros (the House of Arden , The Railway Children etc ) pero serviría de introducción a su obra para lectores no- ingleses.