I really liked Helen Oxenbury's illustrations (pencils? maybe also crayon or watercolor?) but unfortunately, like so many of Margaret Mahy's early works, the sexism just really irks me. Literally all the characters -- the animals, the shop-owner -- were male, except for the stay-at-home mom. The land of magic was described with princesses in tower windows combing their hair, mermaids singing, and sons off seeking adventure. It's just a little tiresome for the parent reading this, and re-gendering as I go along to eliminate unnecessary gendering (why does the cat, or the dragon, have to be male?) -- the alternative would be to explain to my kid, yet again, that people had/have old-fashioned views .... It really starts to ruin my pleasure in a story after a while. ( )

I really liked Helen Oxenbury's illustrations (pencils? maybe also crayon or watercolor?) but unfortunately, like so many of Margaret Mahy's early works, the sexism just really irks me. Literally all the characters -- the animals, the shop-owner -- were male, except for the stay-at-home mom. The land of magic was described with princesses in tower windows combing their hair, mermaids singing, and sons off seeking adventure. It's just a little tiresome for the parent reading this, and re-gendering as I go along to eliminate unnecessary gendering (why does the cat, or the dragon, have to be male?) -- the alternative would be to explain to my kid, yet again, that people had/have old-fashioned views .... It really starts to ruin my pleasure in a story after a while. ( )

When Mr. Belsaki chooses a dragon as a pet for his son, what was a very ordinary family begins some extraordinary adventures.