My Father's Dragon

Summary

My Father's Dragon is told by a narrator about the boyhood adventure of their father, Elmer Elevator. One cold rainy day Elmer brings home a drippy old alley cat; his mother hates cats, whips him when she finds the saucer in the cellar, and throws the cat out. Walking in the park, Elmer says he would love to fly, and the cat, once a great traveler, tells him how: on Wild Island, joined to the Island of Tangerina by a line of rocks, the lazy animals have captured a baby dragon who fell from a cloud with a bruised wing. They keep him tied by a knotted rope and beat him into ferrying them across a wide muddy river. Elmer packs his father's knapsack with chewing gum, two dozen pink lollipops, rubber bands, rubber boots, a compass, a toothbrush and toothpaste, six magnifying glasses, a jackknife, a comb and brush, seven hair ribbons, an empty grain bag, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then stows away on a ship. At Cranberry he hides in the bag and is unloaded as dried corn on the cob. Living on tangerines, he crosses the rocks at night, stepping on a sleeping whale, while two suspicious wild boars track signs of an invasion. In the jungle seven tigers mean to eat him until he gives them gum that he says will grow more gum. A weeping rhinoceros gets toothpaste for his yellowed tusk, a lion afraid of his mother gets a comb and ribbons for his tangled mane, and a gorilla's six little monkeys get magnifying glasses to hunt fleas. Elmer persuades seventeen crocodiles to line up across the river for lollipops, crosses on their backs and cuts the dragon's rope as the whole mob charges after him; the crocodiles swim off carrying the animals downstream. Elmer and the dragon fly away toward Tangerina. Random House published the book in 1948 with Ruth Chrisman Gannett's black-and-white drawings and a map of the islands; it was a Newbery Honor Book in 1949.

Top Lessons

• Kindness to the helpless

  Elmer's adventure begins with kindness to a wet old cat that nobody else cares about, and it ends with rescuing a baby dragon whom the animals beat and overwork. The story teaches that noticing someone who is suffering is the first step to helping.

• Thinking ahead

  Elmer and the cat pack carefully, and almost every odd thing in the knapsack, from the hair ribbons to the rubber bands, saves him later. Good preparation and a calm head turn small things into tools.

• Solving problems by meeting needs

  Elmer never fights. Each animal who threatens him has a worry, such as a yellow tusk, a messy mane or fleas, and Elmer gets past by helping with it. The book shows cleverness and generosity working together.

• Learning from mistakes

  Elmer leaves tangerine peels behind, and the boars use them as clues. When he overhears them, he saves every peel from then on. Even a brave explorer has to notice his mistakes and change.

Verified Quotes

Medical Lens

Medical content is slight. The dragon arrives with a badly bruised wing, is tied up until it heals, and is then overworked and has his wings twisted as punishment; the book treats this plainly as cruelty to a hurt young creature. The animals' complaints are comic rather than clinical: the rhinoceros says he cannot sleep at night for thinking about his ugly yellowed tusk, the lion fears his mother, and the gorilla is driven to distraction by fleas. A reader could note in passing that Elmer's mother whips him, an ordinary household punishment in the period, stated without comment.

• Chapter Two, My Father Runs Away

  The cat explains that the baby dragon fell from a cloud with a bruised wing, was tied up while it healed, and is now beaten and overloaded.

• Chapter Six, My Father Meets a Rhinoceros

  The rhinoceros weeps constantly and cannot sleep over his yellowed tusk until Elmer shows him how to brush it.