Flight of the Last Dragon
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
What if there was but one dragon left in the world?
What if dragons were more than just imaginary creatures? What if long ago they soared through our skies? And what if there was only one dragon left? Where might it hide from our machines, from our technology, from us? And where would it go if it spread its wings for one last flight?
New York Times bestselling writer Robert Burleigh and Harry Potter artist Mary GrandPre answer these questions by taking us on one last great journey into the starry night. Read this book with a child and wait for the inevitable moment when he looks to the sky . . . and wonders.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Burleigh and GrandPr blend the ancient and the contemporary in this bittersweet portrait of the former king of the dragons, who now hides alone in the sewers of a city: "Weak, alone,/ He wades in the slime,/ Lost in dreams/ Of a long-ago time." Burleigh's rhymed four-line stanzas are pitch-perfect and filled with intriguing images; remembering a time when dragons "breathed hot flames/ In jewel-filled caves," Ultimon says, "And I am left/ With thoughts that pass/ Like grains of sand/ In an hourglass." GrandPr 's illustrations offer a painful contrast between the glories of dragons past and Ultimon's current enfeebled state, with tattered wings, a walking stick, and a broken horn. Lest Ultimon's story gets too depressing, Burleigh and GrandPr conspire to create a triumphant finale in which Ultimon is transformed into a glittering, golden dragon his wings resembling flames more than feathers as he finds the strength to fly one last time and gains a permanent home in the sky; an afterword gives details about the constellation Draco. A melancholy but moving story of finding one's way home after the world has changed. Ages 3 7.
