Zog

Product Information

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler come up with another winner with 'Zog', who is the biggest and keenest dragon in school but who proves to be accident prone when undertaking any task. The illustrations are just as amazing as in the Gruffalo books, and the rhyming prose of this story flows like water. The rhyming story is full of delight and near-perfect for reading aloud (there were only 2 lines where the rhythm seemed a touch off), with a great sing-song quality and plenty of fun words, humorous moments, and wee twists to keep little readers engaged and amused.

I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books. I was introduced to Zog and Pearl via the short film, and it was only as I was watching the Special Features that I realised Zog had books written about him long before he was animated. This book saw my confidence grow as a teacher and facilitated opportunities in the classroom I didn’t know were possible. The story of a keen young dragon who wants to learn how to fly, roar and breathe fire in his first years at Dragon School. I don't know much about dragons but it seems that they are largely absent parents as zog practises dangerous skills such as flying and breathing fire without any supervision.

This is a lovely book which I used in SEA and the class choose as their theme for the classroom book corner. Lesson 4: ‘Catching a Princess’ - I took all the children to the hall and we played 'catch the princess' (stuck in the mud). Featuring the voices of Sir Lenny Henry as the narrator, Hugh Skinner as Zog, Tracey Ullman as Madame Dragon, Patsy Ferran as Princess Pearl, Kit Harington as Sir Gadabout and some added vocals by Rob Brydon.

I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise.

I think perhaps it was just that it was a larger story with more active characters and lacked that singular focus so suited to the form. Luckily for him, there's a kind girl who helps him along the way, tending to his wounds and sending him off to school. A fablulous story with lots of messages to children such as challenging stereotypes of a princess combining to never give up (a dragon not giving up in school). Instead she plans to become a traveling doctor, a desire shared by the knight who asks her to train him up. He moved to England in 1982 to study illustration at the Bath Academy of Art, and then set up home in London.

She intervenes, stopping the fight and declaring she has no intention of going back to the palace to waste her life prancing around in frilly dresses.I'm fairly perturbed that they all seem entirely self taught, I thought that doctor was a protected title. Lesson 2: ‘Flying Lesson’ - I filmed all the children acting and then we watched the videos and described our flying styles as a class on a piece of sugar paper. This book (and the BBC One animated adaptation) inspired a whole term of English and Drama for my Year 1 class.