#14 A Gold Star for Zog

Title: A Gold Star for Zog

Author: Julia Donaldson

Illustrator: Axel Scheffler

Publishing Company: Scholastic

Copyright: 2012

# of Pages: 30

Genre/Category: Poetry

  

            I chose this book because I thought the cover looked cute. It is about a dragon named Zog who cannot quite figure out where he fits in at dragon school. Every year, he tries to do his best to earn a gold star, but he seems to always get hurt when he tries. Every year, a girl comes and fixes up his injuries. One day, Zog is practicing capturing a princess, but he does not have any luck. The girl tells him she is a princess, and she tells him he can capture her. Zog gets a gold star for capturing the princess, and the princess is happy to spend her days doctoring the dragons. One day, a knight comes to save her, but she tells him she would rather be a nurse than a princess. The knight agrees with her, and they ride off on Zog to find patients in need of help.

            I would guess that the illustrations in A Gold Star for Zog were done using acrylic paints and colored pencils. The illustrations do not have a transparent, water color look to them, and they do not look like any type of cut paper or collage. The illustrations are very detailed and brightly colored. The text throughout the book is done in a formal and informal format, and the illustrations are in a horizontal format. I really liked the way the illustrator depicted the setting in all of the illustrations. The setting is very detailed with scenes of forests, castles, and sky.

            This book would probably be appropriate for children ages 4-7. I think it was a cute book, and the ending would probably surprise children. Teachers could use this book to discuss elements of fairytales. This book is written using rhymes, so teachers could also teach students about rhymes while using this book. I think it would also be fun to ask students to write about a time that they were not good at something, or about what they would like to be when they grow up since the princess really wanted to be a nurse.