THE WINTER DRAGON
by Caroline Pitcher & illustrated by Sophy Williams
With the help of a paper dragon and his own imagination, a young boy confronts his fear of the dark. Rory hates night and worries about unseen demons in the shadows of his bedroom. One winter day Rory makes a paper dragon. That night he discovers his dragon glowing in order to keep the dark away and blowing to warm his slippers and bed. Each night, Rory’s dragon returns to warm him with courageous stories of bonfires, blazing beacons, and knights and dragons. Each night Rory and his Winter Dragon “banish the demons of the dark” and Rory sleeps unafraid, his heart filled with the dragon’s stories. When spring light returns, Rory knows he and his dragon must part. The realistic pastel illustrations cast Rory in darkness and light, amplifying his fears as well as his emerging courage. A reassuring story with a touch of fantasy for the night-light gang. (Picture book. 4-8)