FANTASTIC FRIDAY: Roar-Choo! by Charlotte Cheng & Dan Santat
ABOUT THE BOOK
Patient, peaceful Phoenix tries to take care of rambunctious and cold-ridden Dragon, which leads to hilarious and sweet results (with vibrant illustrations by the Caldecott Medal-winning creator of Beekle ).
Everyone knows that dragons are fierce, capable of taking on the world!
But this dragon can’t stop sneezing long enough to get a roar out. Even with friendly Phoenix insisting that Dragon get some rest, this powerful creature refuses to stop for any orange ginger tea or a drop of bone broth soup.
It's only when Dragon realizes Phoenix has caught the same cold that they are both able to take the break they so badly need. This tale of helping your friends and valuing differences is a sure-thing for story time.
REVIEW
Dragon swoops across the opening spread of the story and declares that, "Dragons are fierce. Dragons are frightening." He follows it up by roaring--which abruptly turns into a sneeze that nearly takes out Phoenix. The students I read this to were hooked from the very first roar-choo. In fact, if you read this to children, don't be surprised if they start joining in on the roar-choos. Despite Phoenix's best efforts, Dragon refuses to relax, take care of himself, and let himself get better. He keeps issuing statements about how strong and tough dragons are, which inevitably end with a sneeze. Eventually, after accidentally starting a fire and sharing his cold with Phoenix, Dragon realizes that accepting help and taking time to heal benefits everybody. Dan Santat's illustrations are amazing and gorgeous and I fell in love with them immediately. This book is bound to be read over and over, not only by me but by many of those who pick it up. The black and white cover makes for an interesting under book jacket surprise. And those endpapers, oh my goodness, children are going to want to color those black and white images of the dragon and phoenix. What a winner of a book! This one will be a favorite for a long time to come.
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