20 Epic Dragon Books For Kids – Fascinating Creatures

1. Never touch a Dragon! (Touch and feel) – Rosie Greening & Stuart Lynch

This is a rhyming board book about dragons. Filled with textures and vibrant illustrations that will invite them to touch and feel every dragon (even if it goes against the warnings) – because you should never touch a dragon, as we all know. My daughter liked it so much when she was one-year-old that we almost had to buy a second copy.

2. That’s not my Dragon – Fiona Watt

A fantastic touchy-feely book to teach toddlers about textures through colorful illustrations and concise sentences. It helps them develop language and sensory skills. This book is from the popular series “That’s not my…” has won many awards, and your toddler will most likely enjoy it.

3. There’s a Dragon in Your Book – Tom Fletcher & Greg Abbot

What a sweet interactive book for little ones! There’s an egg in your book, and from that egg… a baby dragon hatches! The book will encourage the readers to tickle, blow, tap, and much more while using their imaginations to help the dragon on his first day full of adventure. I found this read-along by Michelle Obama that you might enjoy with your little ones if you ever need a helping hand someone else reading them a story.

4. Don’t Wake the Dragon – Bianca Schulze & Samara Hardy

Why is it that when you want everything to be calm, all of a sudden, noises are coming from every corner? Another interactive book that invites the reader to stroke pages, say shhh, rock the book to make sure the dragon keeps sleeping. But what to do when the dragon wakes up? It’s a lovely book for bedtime to help your child also get in the mood to sleep.

5. Zog – Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

Zog is a friendly dragon that goes to dragon school. Each year he learns a skill that all grown dragons need to know. He must fly, roar, breathe fire, capture princesses, and fight knights. But what he wants above all is to win a golden star. So he tries and tries and does his best, but winning that star is not easy. It is a lovely story about effort, persistence, friendship, and following your dreams, even if they are a bit unconventional. It has also been brilliantly adapted to a 25-minute animation that can be found on DVD or Amazon Prime; we love it and highly recommend it.

6. Zog and the Flying Doctors – Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

We fly with Zog, Princess Pearl, and Gadabout the Knight in this book and see them taking care of magical creatures everywhere. But when they visit Princess Pearl’s uncle one day, he captures her and doesn’t let her leave because he feels princesses shouldn’t and can’t be doctors. But Pearl, with the help of her friends, proves him wrong! Princesses can be doctors and anything they put their hearts into. This book has also been adapted to a short 25-minute animation found on DVD or Amazon Prime. You must see it!

7. There is no Dragon in this story – Lou Carter & Deborah Allwright

Why are dragons always supposed to be the bad guys in the stories? Dragon is tired and goes in a huff, trying to find a story where he can be a hero for a change. But all fairytale characters reply in the same way “There is no Dragon in this story!”. This makes him quite sad until things go wrong in the fairytale world, and the dragon can be a hero if he believes in himself. It has beautiful and fun illustrations with some of the most famous fairytale characters that your kids will know.

8. Not Your Typical Dragon – Dan Bar-el & Tim Bowers

Everyone knows that dragons should breathe fire. But Crispin does not. He breathes whipped cream, band-aids, beach balls, teddy bears…. anything but fire. He is not your typical dragon. His father wants to fix him as if there is something wrong with him. Crispin feels terrible; he believes he is a disappointment and runs away from home. Then he meets an unlikely friend that also breaks the mold, and together they discover and prove to the world that being different might be the best thing after all. A lovely book about friendship, accepting differences, and self-love.

9. Franklin’s Flying Bookshop – Jen Campbell & Katie Harnett

Book lovers will enjoy this book. Franklin, the dragon, loves books; he has his cave filled with them. He sometimes visits the town nearby, but it is always quiet and empty (people are scared of him and hide). He would like nothing more than to find someone he could share his interests with and read together. One day he meets a girl made of stories like him, and they become great friends and build a marvelous bookshop in Franklin’s back. It is a beautiful book about friendship, sharing, and being passionate about reading.

10. When a Dragon comes to stay – Caryl Hart & Rosalind Beardshaw

Such a lovely and sweet way to teach children about manners. In this book, a dragon comes to stay and interacts with the children. When a dragon comes to stay, does he go ROAR or shout “My way!”? No, Dragons don’t do that. A dragon knows he must play fair, and help around and be kind. You’ll probably love this dragon as much as we do (I wouldn’t mind having him over). Check this read aloud by the author!

11. Train your Angry Dragon – Steve Herman

This is a cute children’s story to teach kids about emotions and anger management (because we know most of them to need it). Having a dragon as a pet can be very fun. But when he gets angry or upset, what do you do? How do you keep your dragon from burning everything to the ground? The text is what makes this book so good. It is very insightful with some tricks that will help you train your angry dragon (or the dragon inside you).

12. Dragon Was Terrible – Kelly DiPucchio & Greg Pizzoli

This is a cute children’s story to teach kids about emotions and anger management (because we know most of them to need it). Having a dragon as a pet can be very fun. But when he gets angry or upset, what do you do? How do you keep your dragon from burning everything to the ground? The text is what makes this book so good. It is very insightful with some tricks that will help you train your angry dragon (or the dragon inside you).

13. Dragons Love Tacos – Adam Rubin & Daniel Salmieri

This book is a fun read-aloud about dragons and tacos. Dragons love tacos, and if you want to befriend a dragon, tacos are essential. And if you want them to come to your party, you need buckets of tacos or mountains of tacos… but wait! They hate spicy salsa! So be sure to not have anything spicy around… because what could happen? A nicely illustrated book that became a #1 New York Times bestselling sensation.

14. There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight – Penny Parker Klostermann & Ben Mantle

A funny, cumulative story about a Dragon who swallows a knight – which is not polite. After the knight, he keeps swallowing more and more – almost an entire kingdom! With entertaining illustrations and written in rhyme, it is a fun read-aloud for the family (with gas burps included) – which of course, children find hilarious.

15. Dragon Post – Emma Yarlett

One day a boy finds a baby dragon in his house. He writes letters to lots of different people he hopes can help him take care of the dragon. He gets letters back, which are fantastic. You actually have the envelopes with the letters that children will love to pull out and read. A beautiful and unconventional story about the friendship between a boy and a dragon.

16. Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon – Kat Zhang & Charlene Chua

When Amy Wu hears about dragons at school, she realizes they are not like the dragons she has in her mind. Her classmates challenge her saying her dragon doesn’t look like a dragon. She feels discouraged… but at home, her grandmother will tell her stories about other types of fantastic dragons. Western dragons and Eastern dragons are not the same. This book, where East meets West, is a brilliant book that teaches about diversity and cultural differences and how enriching they can be.

17. Illustrated Stories of Dragons – Usborne & Khoa Le

This book is for older children or can be read aloud to younger ones. It is a lovely and beautifully illustrated compilation of seven dragon stories for kids. The dragons in the stories are from worldwide, so it is beautiful to see the differences and diversity that exist in dragon mythology.

18. Then minutes to bed little Dragon – Rhiannon Fielding & Chris Chatterton

This is a book from the Ten Minutes to Bed series, which we absolutely adore. Spike, the little dragon, doesn’t want to go to bed. In this countdown story, you’ll fly with Spike and his older sister and go on an adventure to help a lost egg find its way home – and of course, they end up fast asleep in their bed. The rhythm is soothing, and the illustrations from Chris Chatterton are simply marvelous. It is our latest addition to the library, and my son has been asking for it almost every night for the past month. For more books of the series or other bedtime, book suggestions have a look at this post.

19. King Jack and the Dragon – Peter Bently & Helen Oxenbury

Jack, Zack, and Caspar were making a den – a mighty great den for King Jack and his men. They build it and play make-believe all day fighting dragons and beasts. But at the end of the day, when the others go home, Jack is left alone on his throne. Will he fight the dragon alone? A warm and cozy story that is great for bedtime with beautiful illustrations from the illustrator of “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.”

20. Again – Emily Gravett

Cedric, the dragon, wants to be read his favorite book about a dragon who doesn’t want to sleep and interacts with princesses and trolls. And Cedric loves the story so much that he wants it to be read again, again, and again. I especially like this book because the older dragon reading the book could be any child’s caregiver – mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, aunt, babysitter… it is very open, and I feel it is fantastic. Check out how Emily Gravett teaches to illustrate Cedric!