A cute picture book showing her dragons wouldn't make a very good dinner guest. But it did it in a fun and entertaining read.

Okay, if you've ever wondered if you should take your dragon to dinner, read this book! This book is different than your average children's book because the pictures are crafted in such a beautiful way! My children loved this book and honestly, so did I.

Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner discusses how difficult it is to teach your pet dragon table manners. The bad table manners are typical behaviors children engage in, so this can be used as a learning opportunity as well to help them realize what they should be doing at a restaurant or the kitchen table. The story remains me of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and No Pirates in the Library and I love that it depicts different cultures and races because diversity is always great to have in a children's story. The illustrations are funny and colorful.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

Cute book for children! My daughter really enjoyed it. She loves having her own ebooks to read and requests this one all the time!

If your child loves dragons, this one will surely get a laugh.

This book is adorable and fun. I had fun reading it and then rereading it with my children. I really think children of all ages (those adults that are young at heart) will love this book!

This was a fun and engaging way to introduce (or remind!) children of table manners. The story was humorous and had great examples of behaviors some children may struggle with. I liked pausing on each page to allow the children to brainstorm the choices the dragon should be making instead. The illustrations were also amazing- 5 stars!

A clever idea. The illustrations lend energy and humor.

The children drawn on the pages appear to be from a range of ethnicities. Because of that, I was surprised and disappointed by the depiction of the older woman in what seemed to be a 1950's stereotypical way. Grannie deserves better, in my opinion.

Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner

written by Julie Gassman

illustrated by Andy Elkerton

Almost any child will enjoy Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner; its predictable rhyming patterns and repetition will charm. Its descriptions of all the rude behaviors a dragon might engage in are sure to disgust to the delight of children. Dinosaur lovers will be particularly happy reading this book. The illustrations are bright, colorful, large, and seem to jump off the page. The illustrator worked hard to be inclusive of children of both genders and many ethnicities. The best part of the book’s structure is that after showing all the annoying and disgusting things a dragon might do at a restaurant, the author suggests that the child teach the dragon dining etiquette at home so he will be welcome in a restaurant with the child.

This book bears a strong resemblance to How Do Dinosaurs Eat their Food by Jane Yolen. The focus of Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner is, of course, dragons, but these dragons strongly evoke fanciful dinosaurs. If your child enjoys Yolen’s “How Do Dinosaurs…” books, then he or she would probably enjoy Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner. My ultimate test for a good children’s book is to decide if the adult will enjoy reading the book with the child as read-alouds should always be a time of pleasure for all involved. In the case of this book, I personally give it two thumbs up!

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Capstone Young Readers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Humor, Children’s Fiction

Notes: suggested for ages 3-7; fun for home or school

Publication: September 1, 2017—Capstone Young Readers

Memorable Lines:

A rude guest like a dragon disturbs everyone.
He barges right in. He spoils the fun.
A wing in your face! A tail in a drink!
And worst of all, that distinct dragon STINK!

I don't know what it is about this book that makes it so completely adorable.  I love the rhyme (I'm a sucker for rhyming) and the illustrations are fantastic- bright, humorous and so cute.  This book reminds me of another series about dinosaurs but I enjoyed this book more.  There is a little lesson at the end about proper manners at the dinner table that is a nice bonus but, it's more the rhyming and illustrations that really pull this book together.

Do you want to teach your children table manners and have fun doing it? Just add dragons! I love this book so much! I mean, come on! There's dragons!

The rhymes make reading aloud lots of fun and the gorgeous illustrations complement the text brilliantly. Whether they're being read to or reading to themselves, kids are going to love this book. They will be able to clearly contrast the rude behaviour at the beginning of the book with the good table manners shown at the end.

The illustrations are incredible! I really loved seeing the diversity of people (and dragons) shown at the restaurant. The colours throughout the book were beautiful and vibrant, and the expressions on the faces of everyone at the restaurant were priceless.

This is one of those books where everything works well together. You could take away the illustrations and still have a great story. You could take away the text and still understand the story from the pictures alone.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley (thank you very much to NetGalley and Capstone) in exchange for honest feedback. This book needs to be in libraries and homes everywhere! This is a book I'd still enjoy reading the 100th time. Did I mention the dragons?!

This book was a huge hit for my seven year old! She is obsessed with everything dragons so this book immediately caught her attention. The illustrations were beautifully done and went well with the story line. Her favorite picture in the whole book is the grandma losing her teeth!

The story is well written and makes learning about table manners fun for children. I recommend this book for beginning readers, especially those who are learning about rhyming words.

This was such a fun book!! My three year old absolutely adored it and keeps stealing my Kindle to read it so I will definitely be buying it. Such fun characters and adorable story. Absolutely love it

I received a free copy via NetGalley; this is my honest review.
Fun read, educational.
Great looking pictures/illustrations - Brightly colored too.
Good rhymes, good manners simply explained.
Sometimes the dragon is a female, other times it's a male; I didn't see any difference in the clothing or anything else. It should be a "it" anyways.

This is a fun read is from Author Julie Gassman and Illustrator Andy Elkerman. Learning manners is fun with a dragon, and this creative and and exciting story will have children laughing and learning manners while laughing. The artwork enhances the story and brings story and the message to life in a way the kids will respond to. Having dinner with a dragon is exciting and much more fun and entertaining when you have dinner at home where you can entertain your dragon without disrupting other diners.

Wildly colorful and rhyming, this is a humorous story illustrated by Andy Elkerton about meal etiquette for children—and their dragons. Highly recommend! Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ebook for review.

Not a favorite storywise, but the art is quite nice.

The illustrations are a visual feast with rich, vibrant colors and wonderful facial expressions. Scenes like Grandma spitting out her false teeth will have you AND your kids laughing out loud. Kids will be gleeful over the dragon's terrible table manners.

She pounds on the table.
She plays with her food.
She picks at her fangs.
She’s so very RUDE.

It's been a long time since a children's book has impressed me this much, and I definitely plan to add it to my collection. 5 stars

Do Not Take Your Dragon to Dinner
By Julie Gassman Illustrated by Andy Elkerton
Ages 4-7
This is a fun rhyming picturebook. The advice is to not take your dragon to dinner and provides examples on what can go wrong. The girl does not want to exclude her dragon who is like family. The story then provides “instructions” for teaching your dragon how to have manners for dining in a restaurant. The brightly colored pictures are engaging for younger readers. The book is written in verse and uses language that beginning readers can understand and read. Additionally the story is humorous and will entertain all ages. I highly recommend this book especially for pre-k to first grade students.

Cute story. Great illistrations! Fun to read with kids. Would recommend this book.