Zog

Product Information

Madame Dragon first of all teaches her dragon pupils to fly and although Zog begins flying 'fast and free', he eventually crashes into a tree. He requires a plaster for his head and a little girl comes out of the woods to tend to his injuries ... and off he flies again. Can you find out the different items that people keep in a first aid kit? What does each of these things do? The story of the adorable dragon with a heart of gold is now available in a chunky board book format perfect for Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler's youngest fans. Imagine that you are the teacher at the dragon school. Plan a lesson to show what you want the pupils to learn. Zog is a keen dragon at Dragon School who aims to be the best in his class and win a golden star. The story follows his attempts at learning to fly, roar and breathe fire, leading to a series of minor injuries for which a mysterious girl provides assorted bandages and plasters.

The little girl helps Zog at different points in the story. Can you learn some first aid? Could you make a poster to teach first aid skills to other people? The illustrations are as vivid, imaginative and amusing as you would expect from the illustrator of The Gruffalo, with subtle details that children and adults will love. The perfectly crafted rhyming text is ideal for reading aloud. And the ambitious princess is a great touch. Princess Pearl doesn’t like silly frilly dresses. Can you design some new clothes that she might like?I knew that our editor really wanted a dragon story, but it wasn’t till I hit on the name “Madam Dragon” that I decided the book should be a school story.

I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. In this much-loved picture book, a little mouse walks through the woods and encounters a fox, an owl and a snake. This book inspired and allowed me to teach the best two weeks of lessons I have ever taught. This book saw my confidence grow as a teacher and facilitated opportunities in the classroom I didn’t know were possible. Julia Donaldson is one of today's most popular writers. Her bestselling titles include The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child and Room on the Broom. Although she is best-known for her picture books, Julia also writes longer novels, plays and songs. She lives in Glasgow and spends a lot of time on stage performing her brilliant sell-out singalong shows!In year two the dragons learn to roar but Zog roars so loudly that he grows hoarse. Once again the same little girl turns up with some peppermints to ease his pain. And of he flies off again.

I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books. We then created a whole class re-telling just using actions (which we later performed in a class assembly to the school). Watch this book trailer by Eastbourne Library’s Chatterbooks book group. Could you make your own trailer for Zog?

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Find some other images of dragons and use these as the starting point for your own? (see Resources below).