Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton, With Paintings by Eric Puybaret

I bought this book for Ricky's birthday. I remembered it as a child and it comes with a CD of the song. The story itself is sad - it tells of a dragon named Puff who befriends Little Jack Paper and they have lots of adventures together. But "a dragon lives forever, but not so little girls and boys....One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more.." so of course Puff mourns the loss of his friend. It is a sad story but you can't help liking it.

The CD has 4 songs on it and you can listen to the CD while you flip the pages for your child. The songs are written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary and they flow nicely for a child. I was a tot in the 1970s so maybe that's why I kind of like the CD, I don't know. Shhh!

Little Ricky liked it and didn't ask why Jackie Paper stopped visiting Puff. But at three years old, I wasn't in a rush to point out the whole death thing quite yet. I would suggest this book as a good gift for a child.

Published 2007 by Sterling

The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle

This is one of little Ricky's favorites. This is the story of a little boy who really wants to have a dog but his mother is against the idea. He enlists the help of a dragon to change his mother's mind. It's a really funny story and the illustrations by Hanako Wakiyama are amazing - right down to the detail of the boy's mother's capri pants. You will love reading this book to your kid because of the flow of the story, the pictures, and the fact that it's not so long that you'll lose your voice. A strong recommend!