This allegory is beautiful; the story and the illustrations. I highly recommend this treasure.

My 8yr old read the book easily. 'Maud' was the only difficult word so she decided the dragon was called 'Mood'. When I corrected her she said Mood suits better so she's sticking with it.

Absolutely gorgeous watercolors make this book charming and magical. I won't repeat the plotline, but I loved how the book taught that the words we say to ourselves and to others have a huge impact on what we are able to achieve. I loved the part of the story where Maud finds her purpose in life. Charming! So Charming!

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received through Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

A sweet story about a dragon that is different from its siblings and teased by them because of it. Lacking confidence, she hides away in a cave, but her friend Mouse encourages her to try and she does with amazing results! Artist Naomi Howarth, depicts Maude the dragon in beautifully rendered watercolor that will undoubtedly become a childhood favorite.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.
#TheNightDragon #NetGalley

Whilst a cute premise, and one that I might be willing to give a chance in paperback, unfortunately this one just didn’t grab me in the way that I needed it to. I liked it ok but didn’t love it, which I feel is important in hardback picture books.

A good family bedtime read book.

The illustrations are beautiful water colour rendered magical imagery that children will fall in love with.

An adorable children's book! The story was a cute and the artwork was beautiful. This one should definitely be an immediate addition to the family library. I will definitely be adding it to mine personal collection of books to read to my nieces and nephews, they will adore it.

A lovely children's book about a rainbow-colored dragon who soars through the sky with her best Mouse friend, bringing beautiful colors to the sky. Love the soft colors in the illustrations.

I love a simple, few words children's story. Not only because it means they are quick to read before bed to children (no one really wants to read all the words in Dr. Seuss every night, let's just admit that to ourselves now) but because they are stories that children can learn and remember. I love when a child sits next to me and knows the next words on the page. Not because they can 'read' them but because they are simply, yet memorable enough to be worthy of a rapid child's mind remembering. This is the beginning of a relationship with words and reading that I always wish every child and adult could have. The Night Dragon is exactly this kind of simple; yet wonderful story.

The Illustrations
So much colour! If dragons don't already lend themselves to gorgeous children's book illustrations; Howarth takes it to another level by adding such vibrant colour and detail to each page. Whether it's in the dragons themselves (especially our rainbow gal) or in the landscapes and sky that is the setting.
While the story of a children's book is very important, we might as well face it, both adults and children need to have interesting and engaging artwork as well. If the art of the book isn't as good or better than the story then children won't be leaning over to see the pages and point out little details in each illustration. Words are engaging for so many of us; but for children, storytelling and understanding starts with the pictures. Pictures are after all something kids can understand without needing to learn any letters, words, grammar or context.

The Story
Let's not pretend here, this is really the age old story of the Ugly Duckling or Rudolph. It's the story of a misfit who doesn't fit in. And yet this take on the story is so sweet and lovely that I can't find any reason to criticize the choice of core story.
As all stories of misfits go, one day/night things don't go the way they usually do and so the lead character (Maud the rainbow dragon) must find her courage and lift herself into the sky to help the sun go down. The use of the beautiful colours of a sunset sky is clever here by Howarth and I commend her for finding a bit of magic in daily life on earth. The next time I see a beautiful sunset I am sure to think of Maud the Dragon and her friend Mouse who courageously bring those colours to the sky before the night descends.

Gender
The only downfall of this story in my mind is that there is a bit of a gender barrier put up by the night dragons all being boys (as far as I can tell) and our lead rainbow dragon being a girl. This may have been intentional by Howarth to speak of women's role in the world being as important as men's. However I would have preferred if our dragons had remained gender neutral. As then the idea of all dragons being boys or all rainbow creatures relating to girls wouldn't be reinforced here. It may be subtle but I do believe these types of small things are large influences (besides the obvious ones) for children to divide our world into boy and girl things.

Overall
I plan to purchase this book for at least two families of toddlers I am close with. It's simple story is always worth telling. One family has two boys and the other two girls. I see no reason why this story can't be relevant and important to both of them. It may be that the girls will take to it quicker than the boys; but I hope that is not the case. No matter how you feel about the gender divide in The Night Dragon I am confident everyone will agree that the story of a misfit finding their place in the world amongst daily beauty is one that is worthy of being told and read. I would happily read this story each night for months on end to a child who requests it; and I do believe they will fall in love with it and ask for it again and again.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

A beautiful book about the power of believing in yourself AND the power of having someone believe in you. At the same time, it is also an origin story about how we got sunsets. Maud is a night dragon but she can't fly and she can't breath fire. Her siblings all flew through the sky and covered the sun with grey sooty clouds, bringing on darkness and helping the sun set. Her siblings taunt her, leave her out, and basically tell her that she is worthless. Fortunately, she has a friend who does believe in her. When the other night dragons sleep through a sunset, mouse tells Maud that she has to do it and that she can do it. With someone's strong belief in her, Maud flies, but instead of grey clouds, Maud fills the sky with beautiful colors, what we know of as sunset.

There was something lovely about this book for younger readers, but a slight disconnect between what the dragons do and how it brings on night. The part that I really did like was the message of believing in yourself and how what others say really does impact how we feel. The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous.

Lovely little book - great moral message and the illustrations are colourful. I think this would make a perfect bedtime story!

Maud the dragon is not the other dragons. She is constantly made fun of and left out of things. But she has one little friend who believes in her and convinces her to move outside of her comfort zone and into something bigger.

This is a cute little story about finding your self-confidence and expanding into greater and bigger things! My boys enjoyed this story as well.

love the premise, a Kiplingesque “Just So” story, where a sort of fable explains a natural phenomenon, such as “How the Camel Got His Hump”. This is a story to explain how we got the night sky, sometimes dark and dull, and sometimes with vivid colours. I especially love the illustrations. I'm sorry I can't include them here, but please see my Goodreads review which shows several of them to give you an idea.

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Maud on a mountaintop.]
"On top of a very high mountain, in a land far away, lived a dragon."

There are wonderful/terrible silly, plainly-coloured night dragons, the fat, fire-belching behemoths that fly off into the night air every night, breathing out great, grey clouds to darken the sky at the end of the day. Maud, on the other hand, is so deliciously coloured she looks positively edible, like an ice-cream sundae covered with sauces!

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Maud watching all the other dragons fly at night.]
“Every evening, when the sun was low in the sky, Delbert, Gar, Brimlad and Nelda would wake up from a long sleep. They would swoop into the air, breathing huge flames of fire, and fill the sky with great grey, sooty clouds. As these clouds covered the sun, darkness would fall, and day would turn to night.”

They tease Maud, saying she’s too weak to fly. But Maud’s little mate, Mouse, isn’t convinced. He reckons if she puts her mind to it, she can do it.

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of the night dragons partying without Maud.]
One day, after a very long, happy birthday party (to which Maud wasn't invited!), the night dragons slept past the end of the day and night wasn't coming!

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of the night dragons sound asleep and Maud looking worriedly at the bright sun that isn't setting.]
They obviously aren't going to be fit to fly anytime soon.

Poor Maud doesn't know what to do!

Ah, but that's where it's good to have a sidekick who believes in you! Mouse tells her he will stay with her, she can do it. Just step off the mountain and fly!

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Maud flying with Mouse!]
"With Mouse’s words in her ear, Maud felt a little bit braver. There was only one thing for it…"

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Maud and Mouse flying over farms.]
And off they go, across the countryside, spreading a glorious sunset.

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Maud and Mouse flying over the city.]
And across the city.

The landscapes and cityscapes are busy and delightful.

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of Maud and Mouse resting and debriefing.]
“'Thank you for believing in me, Mouse,' said Maud.
"Thank you for the adventure,' he squeaked. 'I rather like being a flying mouse! And look how beautiful you have made everything, just by being yourself.'"

Of course, we'll still have some plainer dark nights. The other night dragons eventually wake up, but "next time you see a colourful sunset, you’ll know that Maud and Mouse aren’t far away."
[My Goodreads review includes an illustration of the night dragons puffing out some wispy grey clouds while Maud and Mouse soar through the evening sky.]

I may never look at a sunset again without thinking of night dragons! Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing's Lincoln Children's Books for the glorious preview copy that I just had to share pictures from. It would be a wonderful gift book for children to spot all the little people and creatures in each picture and hope Maud and Mouse will remind them to be their best selves.

This book very much reminds me of Dumbo, except we have a dragon that can not fly instead of an elephant. What makes the pairing is the little mouse telling them that they can do anything they set their minds too. This book has wonderfully colorful and unique illustrations. And the story, while a bit long winded, is perfectly attuned to the message it is sending. I hope for this to be a new classic.

A simply stunning book that proves you can do anything you set your mind to and it will leave you with a warm feeling in your heart.

This is an achingly beautiful story about friendship, self-expression, and learning to believe in yourself, with some of the loveliest artwork I've seen in a picture book. It broke my heart in the best possible way.

I really enjoyed reading The Night Dragon. Maud was a very likable character, but Mouse was the true star of this story. When his friend was down, he helped them find the courage to take a chance. It ended up taking both of them on an exciting adventure to all kinds of breath taking places. Along the way, Maud finds out that she is different from the other dragons and that is what makes her special.

The Night Dragon is a lovely little origin story of how colourful sunsets came to be. Maud is one of five dragons, but she isn't quite like the others. Each evening the other dragons fly around the sky breathing fire and filling the sky with smoke that blocks out the sun and brings the darkness of night. Maud, though, is nervous about flying and breathing fire and so she is teased and left as an outcast by the others.

Her only friend, Mouse, tries to encourage her to try flying and breathing fire, but Maud really isn't confident that it is something she could do. One evening, after a day of too much partying, the other dragons are in a deep sleep when it comes time to bring night to the sky, so Maud must try to face her fears. When she does, she's surprised to discover not only that she can fly and breath fire, but that her fire creates colourful smoke that fills the sky with beautiful streaks.

This is a sweet little story about facing fears and having friends who believe in you, and I wouldn't mind reading night after night. 4.5 stars rounded up for this beautiful story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Childrens for providing me with a DRC of this book.

Maud the dragon is different from her four other siblings. They were big, brutish night dragons who could fly and blow fire to create a sooty dark night. Mauds friend Mouse tried to convince Maud that she could do the same things, if only she would trust herself, but she never quite believed Mouse. Maud might not get a choice though when her brutish family misses making the night sky dark. Will Maud be able to save the night?

This was a really authentic story of being different and not feeling adequate. Maud is obviously different from the other dragons, but even with Mouse telling her she's adequate in her own way, she doesn't truly believe him, which resonates with life in ways I didn't expect.

Towards the end, after feeling completely different and inadequate, Maud doesn't really get a choice though. She's put in an 'act now, or this is going to be really bad' situation, but she had Mouse there to hold her hand through it, metaphorically speaking.

I really enjoyed this book, despite not being a huge dragon fan. It's a great story with a great lesson on individual strengths and weaknesses and recognizing that being different isn't bad, it's just different and sometimes, that's really good.

The illustrations and color techniques in The Night Dragon really brought a whimsical feel to the story and we're perfectly complimentary and I loved every single page!

'The Night Dragon' by Naomi Howarth is a beautiful story about the dragons that bring on the night.

Maud the dragon is one of five dragons, but she is different. The other dragons fly and blow smoke and fire and turn the sky to night. But not Maud. She gets ridiculed about this and has only her friend Mouse to turn to. Mouse's advice is for Maud to be herself. When Maud learns this lesson, wonderful things happen.

I liked this story of being authentic and not trying to be like those around you. The lesson is clear, and the illustrations are beautiful.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children's Books, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

There are five dragons in this world, but Maud is different than the others. In addition to having the coloration of a rainbow, she doesn’t breathe fire or fly. Because of this, the other four bully her. Maud’s only friend, a mouse, tries to cheer her up and cheerleader her up into the sky, but Maud has too much self-doubt.
Much like a unicorn, Maud burps rainbows.
This book attempts to build confidence and self-expression—with a possible touch of gay rights—in a way that will amuse kids, especially if they commiserate. The one strange thing is that, at the end, the other dragons don’t mend their ways or apologize, or anything. Maybe the book is trying to be different—or realistic—in that way as well, but the omission is curious.