Dragons unicorns and other magical beasts are the intriguing ingredients of fairy tales from cultures around the world. These mythical creatures often look like animals we know but have unusual powers. They also might have body parts from a variety of other species combined in a strange way. They have been described in legends since antiquity. For example, Greek historian Ctesias recorded travelers’ descriptions of unicorns in India. These creatures have been interpreted as horses with a single horn on their foreheads or a combination of horse, cat and snake (Coville, 1988). Dragons, which are typically winged, can be fire breathing and intelligent.
In Chinese folklore, some dragons are friendly to humans, bringing rain or fire to help people grow crops and build houses. Other dragons, however, are mean and greedy. In the west, dragons are often portrayed as fierce and ferocious. Their horns can be used to purify water or as an aphrodisiac.
Whether a dragon is wise and kind or brusque and inflexible, it will be interesting to learn about the many different types of dragons and their characteristics. Likewise, a unicorn’s mystical powers can be a wonderful asset or a curse.
Children love to read about magical creatures. Add a little magic to your reading list with these picture books. PreS-Gr 2 -A lonely Dust Bunny, with wide-set eyes and surrounded by scribbles, searches throughout the house for friends until he discovers a warren of rabbits he can belong to in Molly Coxe’s Blues for Unicorn. Or, commiserate with Pinkalicious who loses Goldie at the fair in Victoria Kann’s Pinkalicious and the Fairy Forest.
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