#18- Dragons Love Tacos

Title: Dragons Love Tacos

Author: Adam Rubin

Illustrator: Daniel Salmieri

Publishing Company: Penguin Books

Copyright: 2012

# of Pages: 29

 

Genre/Category: Fantasy

            I chose this book because the title sounded interesting, and I liked the way the cover looked. This book tells the reader how to host a taco party for dragons. There is a boy that the book seems to be “talking” to as he plans the taco party. The most important thing that the boy needs to know is to not give the dragons anything spicy. The boy follows all of the directions, but he accidentally gives the dragons mild salsa with spicy jalapenos. The dragons start blowing fire and burn the boy’s house down, but they also agree to help fix it in exchange for taco breaks.

            When I first looked at the illustrations, I thought they were done with a type of paper collage. I found out that the illustrations were made using watercolors, gouache, and colored pencils. The illustrator also uses jagged lines during the story to express the way the dragons destroy the house. The illustrations do not have white space. Instead, the illustrator uses different light colored, speckled designs. Most of the colors in the book are lighter shades, and the text is set in an informal setting.

            Dragons Love Tacos is a New York Times Bestseller, and I think this book would be appropriate for children ages 4-9. Children will most likely find this book humorous, but I would not recommend it for older children due to the book’s simplicity. This book uses some good descriptive sentences that could be used to teach adjectives or how to write detailed sentences. Teachers could also use this book to teach alliteration. The author uses simple alliterations throughout the story. I also think this book could be used to teach synonyms and antonyms. The author describes the tacos as both big and gigantic, so teachers could discuss how these words have the same meaning. There are also antonyms used such as smooth and chunky. Teachers could ask students to point out every synonym and antonym that they see in the story. I am actually using this book with my practicum class later this week. We are going to make “story tacos” after we read the book. The taco is a paper plate folded in half. Then, I have cut out pieces of construction paper in red, green, and brown. The children will write elements of the story on each piece. I plan on labeling the pieces as beginning, middle, and end since the students have really been working on sequencing.