Books like My Father's Dragon

In the third grade, I met Mrs. Palombi, my favorite teacher ever. She taught us how to churn butter (you sit in a circle, pass around a bottle of heavy cream that everyone takes a turn shaking up, and spread the resulting curds on Ritz crackers), she brought a cotton candy machine to the Fall Festival (during the summer, she ran a beach shack that sold summer treats) and let you “roll your own” as big as you wanted, and every holiday she’d present us with little pins she crocheted herself to commemorate the occasion (a Jack O’ Lantern for Halloween, Santa for Christmas, a shamrock for St. Patrick’s day…). More than her big bubble of candyfloss bleachblonde hair and her Savage Tan, I remember her gravelly Virginia Slims voice.Near the end of every school day, before the bell rang, Mrs. Palombi would turn the lights off, have us put our heads down and read to us from My Father’s Dragon, Mr. Popper’s Penguins and James and the Giant Peach. All three are favorites of mine, but I’m pimping Dragon first because it seems a bit more obscure.Part of the reason that I’ve always liked the book is Ruth Stiles Gannett’s clever, sweet-tempered story, and the fact that it has some of the most charming illustrations I’ve ever seen—drawn by her step-mother, Ruth Chrisman Gannett. (My favorite is the one they generally use as the cover, which has always kind of tickled me – the book is called My Father’s Dragon, but the cover features a dandy Lion and no dragon to be seen. The endpage map of the islands is also especially adorable.)The “father” of the title is one Elmer Elevator, polite, cool under fire, and an absolute sweetheart in a jaunty little cap. He makes friends with an alley cat who tells him about a baby dragon being held captive on Wild Island. Elmer resolves to rescue the dragon, and with the cat’s sage advice, carefully packs for his trip. With a little planning and an inventive spirit, Elmer sidesteps all manner of hazards (for example, menacing tigers can be placated with chewing gum and a little stretching of the truth—Elmer’s basically a kinder, gentler MacGuyver) and saves the day. If you have children of your own, or just dig patently endearing adventure stories, I can’t recommend My Father’s Dragon enough.