Professor Diggins' Dragons

This was a charming little book that I bought through the good old Weekly Reader back when I was a kid and only recently handed off to a pair of children who needed it. Professor Diggins is the kind of person everyone would want in their neighborhood -- polite, slightly eccentric, good with children, an odd storyteller, and an authority on marine biology. He also believes in dragons. When it is proposed that he take a very long vacation (the University is thinking of getting rid of him due to his references to dragon hunting in the modern world), he is convinced, rather easily, to take five children along with him to help him in his collection of seaside specimens. From here on in is a lovely tale about overcoming fears, living up to one's potential, and, of course, the dragons that we all know really exist, whether they are the external, fire-breathing variety (none, sadly, actually show up in the book) or the internal, psychological ones (fear of the dark, being unsure that we are loved, etc.). With great kindness, mild humour, and a love of language Felice Holman's book guides us along the way to acceptance of ourselves by ourselves (whether others do or not is entirely up to them). Admittedly my review is coloured, doubly, by my memories of reading this as a child and, again, in reading it to my pseudo-niece and pseudo-nephew, but in passing on a wistful and important life lesson, I found that this book had lost none of its freshness, kindness, or gentle wisdom in the intervening (nearly) forty years.

A delightful story about children, their fears, and a wondeful teacher who helps put their fears to rest. It centers on a trip taken by the teacher and his class to the beach, and his conversations with the children in which they confess their secrets. I remember it from when I was a child. I used it to overcome my own child's fear of the dark. Accelerated third graders to sixth grade level.