GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER – 1969
The Dragon of an Ordinary Family
Margaret Mahy, author
Helen Oxenbury, illustrator
London: William Heinemann, 1969
40 pp.
Age: 4+
Interests: dragons, fantasy, travel
Also by this author: A Lion in the Meadow, The Seven Chinese Brothers, The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate
Also by this illustrator: The Quangle Wangle’s Hat, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Farmer Duck
Mr. Belsaki can’t resist the very small dragon in the pet store, after all, he only costs 50p. Besides, his wife called him a “fuddy duddy” and he wants to prove her wrong. And so a very ordinary family comes into possession of a dragon. Mrs. Belsaki observes that “It makes us a bit out of the ordinary.” The only trouble is that the dragon grows, and grows, and grows. He soon fills the entire yard and the Mayor himself tells them he can’t stay. The dragon himself comes up with a solution. He flies them off to the Isles of Magic – fairy tale land – for the Christmas holidays. The Belsaki’s have a wonderful holiday and the dragon stays behind. Back to being an ordinary family… or perhaps not.
A quiet, suburban fairy tale about what it is to be ordinary.
Rarest Kind of Best 