The Different Dragon by Jennifer Bryan
Wow! This book is great! Another story of controversial nature, the boy in the story has two mothers. One of his moms tells him a bedtime story about a dragon who just couldn't bear to be exactly the way everyone else wanted him to be. I think this book is so powerful in many ways, the main lesson being that society creates a "norm" that most people feel pressure to follow. But the little boy and the different dragon challenge the idea that you should give in to that pressure. Complete with beautiful, soft, dreamy illustrations, this book contains some of the most poetic, insightful language I have seen in a children's book in a long time.
"It's a lot of pressure to be fierce all the time. All that roaring and gnashing of teeth and snorting fire. It's a lot of work to scare people and to be so mean. And nobody ever wants a dragon to be funny or sad or just regular. There's only one way for a dragon to be and that's that"
"I am a smart boy and I know some things. I know that there are lots of different ways to be a dragon, and being fierce isn't the only way to be. You can be however you want."
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