There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight

We've all heard enough of the old lady who swallowed, well, everything! That, however, was before I found There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight (2015) written by Penny Parker Klostermann and illustrated by Ben Mantle. While the premise of the book follows a well used writing formula, the illustrations and the changes the author makes to that formula (plus a fun twist at the end!) give There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight a fresh feel. As a well read reader, I was delightfully surprised with the ending.


There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight is a fun science fiction picture book about a dragon. The dragon just happens to be hungry and eats a knight. Then the dragon has to take care of the knight's horse. And then... Well, then he goes on to swallow a squire, a cook, a lady (princess, perhaps?), a castle and a moat. All the dragon really wanted, though, was the knight! So he takes matters into his own hand and rectifies the situation in an unusual manner.

I may be reading this fun story soon to my own class of kindergartners. This would be an excellent picture book to introduce cause and effect since it tells us why he ate the horse and all the other things he ate. There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight would also be a great story to use to work on sequencing. A picture chart would probably be a fun activity for my kindergartners, placing the pictures of eaten 'items' in the order of when they got eaten!

I highly suggest this fun read. When you do read it, be sure to share it with your own young students!