Thomas and Percy and the Dragon

I had to buy this book for my son. His first trip to the library was when he was 2 and this was the book he picked. He liked it so much that he slept with it that very night. Very good for little ones!!

Not one of the overly preachy Thomas titles, although Percy is made fun of for being afraid of the Dragon. Worth buying because it features the Chinese dragon, which is one of the best and most compelling trains to add to a Thomas collection.

I love these little books. They are inexpensive and just the right treat for the little Thomas lovers in the household. Ours books were sitting on the steps when we came home. My children (boy and girl--three and five) couldn't wait to open the box and kept bugging me to stop making lunch and read to them, Pleeeaaase! (I mean what more can a Mom want. Children begging to be read to!) In any case, Ms. Audrey-the-Librarian (below) outlines the story fairly well. Poor Percy sees the parade dragon and the usual sort of Thomas silliness ensues. As to this books being a primer... I am not at all sure I agree that this book is for preschoolers and kindergarteners: Step I. My daughter is going into school in the fall and I doubt she would get far in this book. It is a shame that they don't have any sample pages to peruse so you could see for yourself what the language is like; but some of the words included are: Thomas, Percy, Sir Topham Hatt, parade, dragon, night, tomorrow, thinking, rumble, scary, brave, cries, shut, next.... Sample text: "Percy hears a rumble. Something is coming. Percy opens his eyes." Despite these reservations, obviously most children will eventually be able to read this cute story for themselves, and before that time there is always we caregivers, so we give "Thomas and Percy and the Dragon" 5 stars.

This is a wonderful book for teachers with students from Chinese or Vietnamese families. They will love seeing a Chinese dragon in the story while beginning to read English.