Welcome to Week of Six of Our Summer Book Club!
We are huge dragon fans at Bella Luna Toys and so are excited to share this week's book club pick. This timeless award-winning book about connecting two worlds and finding the inner wisdom to hold your own truth, goes way beyond just a story about dragons!
This Caldecott Honor-winning book takes readers on a young child's enchanting journey, inspired by his mother's bedtime tales. Guided by his two grandmothers, a young boy uncovers two unique and mesmerizing truths about dragons as he enters two distinct forests. Eastern and Western mythologies coexist and enrich each other in this warm celebration of mixed cultural identity.
From the opening line, "listen carefully about a powerful magic that lives inside you," author Julie Leung's beautiful and evocative language carries us through a deeply stirring tale where we meet mischievous hobgoblins and white rabbits who dwell in the moon. As the young boy is shown the two distinct truths about dragons from two wise women, he also learns that "inside your heart is where the two forests meet. Both journeys are yours to take. Both worlds are yours to discover." And at the end of this beautifully written and illustrated book, we relish the precious truth that there are many ways to view the world and discover the magic of stories.
Day One - Read & Discuss
The first day of book club is all about reading and soaking in the story together with your children. Take your time turning each page, noticing the illustrations and listening to the language of the story. After reading, talk about the story. Ask your children if they have any questions, what they found interesting, if there are parts of the story that they relate to, and share details that caught their attention. Taking time to discuss and explore the story allows the story to sink in to your kids memories and hearts and minds.
We've compiled a list of discussion topics you can explore for some ideas to get started:
1. In this book, the young boy is given two different versions of what a dragon is. Do you have your own truth about dragons? Share your vision of what dragons are like and what they do.
2. Do you have different cultural stories in your family? Or traditions that one side of your family follows but the other side doesn't? For example, is one of your parents or grandparents from another country?
3. Do you have a favorite story that someone in your family shares at bedtime?
4. Is there a quest you would like to take to discover a truth about something? Perhaps a quest to find a fairy or to discover a treasure? Talk about some ideas for the quests and journeys that you would like to embark on.
Day Two: Drawing & Writing Prompt
The second day of Summer Book Club is all about reentering the story with fresh eyes and a creative spirit. This step is a part of the Waldorf way of immersing children into the world of a story through drawing and writing.
We've shared a few ideas for drawing and writing prompts for your children to work on, helping them solidify the ideas of the story and allowing them to think more deeply about the themes. Children love to retell and revisit stories through play and through performances. Creating a small theater with a playsilk curtain allows kids to set their own reenactment to stage and is another fun way to draw them into narrating the story. If your children love to write and draw, set up a space for them with pencils, crayons and paper. Add the book to the space so they can look through it for ideas.
Here is our drawing and writing prompt for The Truth About Dragons:
Draw a map of the dragon quest journey.
What is your powerful magic? Write a story about it.
Day Three: Craft a Finger Knit Dragon Puppet
The illustrations in the The Truth About Dragons are beautiful and the dragons are both very different looking. In this craft, we guide you in making your very own dragon puppet for dragon play and puppet shows. This classic finger-knitted and wool felt dragon will ignite imaginations to breathe fire and roar it's magic.
Gather Your Materials:
- Wool felt sheets
- Wool roving
- Matching chunky wool yarn
- Needle and thread
- Wooden dowels
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
Make Your Dragon Come To Life:
Start by drafting a quick pattern for your dragon's head and tail. Get creative but keep the details large so they can be cut out. Once you've got your drawing just right, use this pattern to cut out 2 dragon heads and 2 tails. Set them aside.
Use your chunky wool yarn to 3-finger-knit a 5-6 inch length of cord. If you need help with this step you can find easy tutorials on You-Tube. Finger knitting is great for developing fine motor skills to create all sorts of art projects.
Place your two dragon heads on top of each other and use a blanket stitch to sew around all sides, leaving the bottom open. Repeat the same steps with your dragon tail. Fill each half with wool roving to bring it to life!
Use hot glue to attach each end of your finger knit cord to your wooden dowels. Add another bit of hot glue on the inside of your dragon head and tail to attach your wooden dowels to each end.
Finish your project by sewing up the end of each dragon part, closing it fully. Now your dragon is ready for storytelling, imaginary play and fanciful dragon dance parties!
We hope you enjoyed our dive into Julie Leung's excellent book, The Truth About Dragons. Which dragon did you like the most? We can't wait to see you next week as we dive into our next story, The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall. See you soon!
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