Dear Komodo Dragon

by Nancy Kelly Allen, Laurie Allen Klein (Illustrator)

Overview

Lots of children have pen pals but one little girl has a real-life dragon—a Komodo dragon—for a pen pal! Leslie plans to be a dragon hunter when she grows up. When she and Komodo become pen pals, the wise-cracking dragon adds a generous helping of humor to letters that are chock full of accurate, interesting facts. Leslie learns not only about the world’s largest lizard, but also about the dangers they face. As their friendship builds, will Leslie change the way she thinks about dragons?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607184607
Publisher:	Arbordale Publishing
Publication date:	02/10/2018
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	7 - 8 Years

About the Author

Award-winning author Nancy Kelly Allen is a retired school librarian who spent her days reading to children and her nights writing for them. Eventually, writing led her down the trail to publication. She has written over forty children's books, including The First Fire: A Cherokee Folktale for Arbordale. Nancy has a master's degree in Education from Morehead State University and a master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Kentucky. Nancy lives with her husband and two dogs in a log cabin in Kentucky.

Laurie Allen Klein has been a freelance artist for nearly 25 years. Over the last several years, she has worked as the on-staff artist for a marine park, where she does everything from painting life-size sea animal murals to illustrating children's activity books. In addition to Saving Kate's Flowers, They Just Know, Laurie has illustrated The Ghost of Donley Farm, Fur and Feathers, Where Should Turtle Be?, Little Skink's Tail, Solar System Forecast, Meet the Planets, If a Dolphin Were a Fish and Balloon Trees for Arbordale. She was the winner of the Outstanding Pennsylvania Author/Illustrator Award from the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association in 2008 and is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Laurie lives in Florida. See more of her artwork at lauriekleinarts.com.

Editorial Reviews

2017-11-22
A little girl has an unusual pen pal—a Komodo dragon. As they exchange letters, she learns about this endangered species and is spurred to action. In a series of amiable and funny letters, Leslie, a dark-haired girl with olive skin, and Komo, a Komodo dragon living on Komodo Island, share personal information as any two human pen pals would. "Komodo dragons are the biggest and heaviest lizards," writes Komo. He reveals that his tail is half his body length. It propels him through water and can be used as a weapon. They compare family life: Komo has 19 siblings and lived in a tree for the first four years of his life. Komo also answers Les' burning question, "Do Komodo dragons spit fire?" Komodo dragons don't, but their spit contains bacteria and venom that can poison its prey. Through their correspondence, Les (and readers) gets to know Komo better and wants to help protect his species. Using colored pencils in warm tones, Klein, an experienced nature illustrator/artist, accurately details the textures, patterns, shades, and shapes of the natural world. Backmatter offers fun facts about Komodo dragons and concrete suggestions on how to help save them from extinction. Querido Dragón Komodo presents the correspondence in Spanish.Peppered with childlike humor and told from a kid's perspective, this book is both enjoyable and informative for budding wildlife conservationists. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews