Welcome to Everyone is Talking About, a new feature on the Johnson Elementary School Learning Leopard Library blog that features books and series that students just can’t stop talking about! Check out our Everyone is Talking About posts to learn more about some of the most commonly checked-out, requested, and reviewed books in the Learning Leopard Library.

This week, Everyone is Talking About Dragonbreath, one of the brand new graphic novel series at the Johnson Elementary School Library. Written by Ursula Vernon, Dragonbreath follows Danny Dragon, who happens to be the only dragon at his special school for reptiles and amphibians. Danny and his smart-aleck best friend Wendell the iguana try to avoid bullies, keep their grades up, and experience the world together – sometimes creating some trouble along the way.

Dragonbreath‘s mix of text, comic-book like pictures, and graphic novel speech bubbles have students clamoring to devour them again and again. Mark, a second grade student at Johnson, says that he first started reading Dragonbreath because he liked the pictures. But then, he got caught up in the excitement of the series, and couldn’t help speeding through the rest of the series. He calls the main character “serious but exciting”, and likes that Danny tries to help and save people, but also knows how to fight when he needs to.

Mark says that his favorite parts of the Dragonbreath books are when Danny finds stuff in the woods, like a horned bunny. He also loves when Danny and Wendell go on adventures together. Mark likes the series so much that he is currently finishing up the last two books – which means he’s already finished the other six!

If you see your student bring one of our Dragonbreath books home, consider taking the opportunity to enjoy the graphic novel together. School Library Journal calls Dragonbreath “a nice mixing and melding of kid and adult humor.” The review praises Vernon’s dry wit, as well has her ability to introduce students to difficult vocabulary without being intimidating. “And it doesn’t get much better than sentences like, ‘It was the exact sound that a young Komodo Dragon might make when he had just been stabbed in the hand with a plastic fork by a plate of recalcitrant potato salad.’ My guess as to the number of children’s books tossing around the term ‘recalcitrant’? Low. Very low.” To read more of School Library Journal’s review of Dragonbreath, click here.

Click here to visit Ursula Vernon’s website (and meet a Ninja Frog or Were-Wiener or two).

You can find the Dragonbreath books in the Johnson Library’s Graphic Novel section, marked with their own shelf marker. A special thank you goes to Mark for his help!