Title Oscar and the Very Hungry Dragon Series --- Author Ute Krause Illustrated By Ute Krause Publisher NorthSouth Books - 2010 First Printing Oetinger - 2007 Category Children Warnings None Main Characters Oscar Main Elements Dragons

It’s time to feed the dragon! But this year the village is out of princesses.

So the villagers send Oscar, a not so plump little boy who would rather COOK dinner than BE dinner.

Putting his culinary skills to the test, Oscar shows the dragon that filet mignon and banana splits are much more delicious than princesses and children.

A silly book a little reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel. We have a hungry dragon that once a year gets fed a princess, only they've run out of princesses! So the townsfolk do a lottery and poor Oscar gets picked, but Oscar has a plan. He points out to the dragon that he's too skinny to be eaten right away and he needs to be fattened up first. The dragon goes out and buys the supplies with Oscar then cooks, those wonderful smells eventually become too much for the dragon to resist and he decides to try some human food, and much to his surprise, finds it far more delicious than princesses ever were! The illustrations are bit goofy, especially for the dragon, but I like the bit at the start, or should I saw before the start, where on those pages with publisher info and whatnot Krause prepares the reader to imagine not just a dragon, but a really scary, really hungry dragon, and only then does the story begin.