This book follows a similar premise to The Girl Who Drew A Phoenix. The young boy in this story is afraid of dragons and paints them out of fear. His mission is to face his fears and find courage to seek the truth. As he encounters a each new dragon that bestows upon him a pearl of wisdom in return for his courage in facing his fears, he feels himself changing and finally he is painting dragons out of love and respect instead of fear. Where the central message of Demi's other aforementioned book of similar title was persistence, the central message here is courage. Again, we see beautiful and captivating illustrations. The use of material and texture gives a richness and delicateness to the images. Very engaging and good message. ( )

Beautiful artwork, great story, uplifting ( )

A boy named Ping decorates his home with paintings of dragons. While they seem to be a proclamation of his love for dragons, they are actually an expression of his deepest fear. The Heavenly Dragon visits Ping after being impressed with the boy's outward declaration of love and respect for dragons and presents the boy with three pearls of wisdom. With bold and expansive illustrations that sweep across the pages, Demi's triumphant tale proves that the greatest fear of fear itself is one that can be conquered with truth and bravery.

There were once dragons that played on clouds and around the sun and moon. The dragon’s favorite game was looking for the pearls of wisdom, and they found the pearls little by little. Once they saw Ping painting beautiful dragons, they were happier. The dragons did not realized that Ping was scared of dragons, but the fear toward dragons did not stop Ping from painting dragons. Ping continued painting dragons all around the walls, and he told his friends that he was not scared of dragons. One night a dragon goes to Ping’s room, and Ping becomes scared. The dragon tells Ping to find the three pearls of wisdom. Ping goes on an adventure to find the three pearls of wisdom, and when he finds the pearls the pearls helps him understand that he should not be afraid of dragons. The dragons were happy for Ping because he no longer feared dragons. The book reflects Chinese beliefs and culture. The illustrations of the dragons are very colorful, and the bodies of the dragons are gold and white. ( )

Author and illustrator, Demi, has created yet another book I have read that is beautiful. The word beautiful describes his writing style and illustrations. The lessons and morals of his books are also positive. I loved how this book had extension pages to capture the beauty of the dragons. In this story Chinese character, Ping, has learned to face and embrace his fears. I would read this book to a child of any age. ( )