One Dragon's Dream

Peter Pavey (author/illustrator)

Walker Books, Australia: 1978, 2009

ISBN: 9781921150746

Genres: picture book

CBCA Picture Book of the Year 1980.

‘One dragon had a dream...that two turkeys teased him... three tigers told him off...'

This delightful counting book was written long before Graeme Base's work first fascinated readers but has a very similar feel. Double pages of complex illustrations entice the reader to pore over the pages, absorbing the fascinating details provided by Pavey's clever pen.

Around and within the dragon's adventure is a surreal landscape packed with quirky characters from Australian culture and ecology - fairy penguins, seahorses, koalas, wombats and owls amongst others. The life of the Australian farmer is represented as working dogs mix with goats and chickens; but the exotic is also there - flamingoes, turkeys and elephants.

Incredibly detailed drawings pen and ink drawings will encourage readers to create their own stories to explain the nonsensical characters that people the dragon's dream, as well as providing visual jokes. There are plenty of hard-to-find images that will challenge the most observant and numerous picture links to Austalia's past that will stimulate questions and discussion. It's great to see this outstanding book back in print.

Highly recommended, especially for visual readers.