The Bakery Dragon

Ember has always been different from the other dragons. His fearsome roar sounds more like a polite sneeze, and when he breathes fire, the villagers just pat his head and say awwww.

Ember fears he’ll never collect a respectable hoard of gold until a chance encounter with a baker causes his fortunes to turn (and his stomach to grumble). As the little dragon soon discovers, the gold you make is way better than the gold you steal—and gold that is shared? That’s best of all. 

Young readers will relate to Ember, who is too small to shoot fire like the other dragons. When an unexpected storm catches the little dragon by surprise, the baker invites him into the shop and teaches him how to make bread. While preparing the dough, Ember realizes his hands are “perfectly suited” to making bread and his small flame can “light the wood stove.” 

But the best part of the book is the surprising conclusion. When the other dragons are envious of Ember’s golden bread, they march to the bakery and learn that “baking gold is better than taking it. And sharing it is best of all.” In the last scene, both dragons and humans are enjoying the golden bread and the golden coins. Like the dragons, the humans are diverse, and readers will want to hunt through the illustrations for all the little surprises, such as a man holding three goats, a little girl hugging a rabbit, and several dragons giving away their gold.  

Readers will be drawn into The Bakery Dragon because Ember is adorable, and he lives in a typical fairy-tale world that is awash in golden light, which is in almost every illustration. However, the golden glow doesn’t just come from the dragon’s treasures; it also comes from Ember’s small flame, the bakery’s windows, and the bread. When Ember piles his golden bread into his lair, readers will be able to imagine the warm, soft bed Ember creates out of his “gold.” One of the best parts of the illustrations is the dragon’s facial expressions, which are easy to understand and will pull at the reader’s heartstrings. Readers will empathize with Ember as he feels a range of emotions from sadness to fear to pride to contemplation. 

The picture book has zero to five sentences per page and uses simple vocabulary. When a character is speaking, the text appears in white quote bubbles, making it easy to distinguish between narration and dialogue. Even though The Bakery Dragon is a picture book, the story is intended to be read aloud to a child rather than for the child to read it independently for the first time. However, younger readers will want to explore the detailed illustrations on their own.  

The Bakery Dragon is a must-read because it teaches many life lessons, such as the importance of sharing. The story and the illustrations highlight dragons’ and humans’ unique differences, which makes it even sweeter when Ember discovers that, while smaller than the other dragons, his body is perfectly suited to baking bread. The creative, magical book will capture readers’ hearts and should be on every reader’s bookshelf. 

Sexual Content  

• None 

Violence  

• To obtain more gold, the dragon, Blaze, throws fire at two villagers. No one is injured. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

• None

Language  

• None 

Supernatural 

• None 

Spiritual Content  

• None