Title Saint George and the Dragon Series --- Author Margaret Hodges Illustrated By Trina Schart Hyman Publisher Little, Brown and Company - 1984 First Printing FLittle, Brown and Company - 1984 Category Folklore Warnings None Main Characters Saint George, Una, the Dragon Main Elements Dragons

Set "in the days when monsters and giants and fairy folk lived in England," this retelling of a classic and well-loved tale recounts the battle between Saint George and the Dragon - a creature so huge and fearsome that his tail "swept the land behind him for almost half a mile," and whose "deep jaws gaped wide, showing three rows of iron teeth ready to devour his prey."

In graceful and evocative prose, Margaret Hodges retells the dramatic story from Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene. Trina Schart Hyman portrays the monstrous dragon; the long, horrible battle; and the final victory celebration in exquisite detail, bringing her full artistic genius to bear in this work. Both storyteller and artist have re-created this timeless legend in a book for children of generations to come.

Ok ugh, just had to say I borrowed this from the library and it had, well, a smell...so I kind of had to flip through it as fast as I could. Oddly it was fine when the book was closed but open it up you had to hold your breath. Which was unfortunate because the illustrations were simply divine. So beautiful (not all kids books need to look like they were drawn by kids!!!), and even the text based pages had gorgeous borders around them. In the end, smell notwithstanding, I had to stop and study the detail in each page, to find fairies peeking through bushes and angels in the air.

And it isn't just the artwork, Hodge's prose is beautiful as well, worthy of the famous tale she retells. And both word and image meld together during the battle between knight and dragon to great effect. I must admit I'm tempted to see if this book is still in print and if I could get a copy of my own to keep.