Take "The Gruffalo" for instance. Dragon turns up, scares Fox, Owl and Snake away - no need for Gruffalos!
Or perhaps "The Dragon Who Came to Tea" - substitute the tiger for a dragon, it'd literally be flaming brilliant!
But we digress from the subject of this very tome we're reviewing - a dragon who is a bit bored with the usual "Dragon kidnaps princess, knight rescues princess" shenanigans. Bored, the dragon in "There Is No Dragon In This Story" wanders out into storyland to see if he's needed elsewhere.
Goldilocks doesn't need a dragon. Little Red Riding Hood is capable of dealing with rotten old wolves on her own. The Three Little Pigs are too, so where on earth could Dragon fit?
He spies Jack and the Beanstalk, and decides to gatecrash - but after a sneezy giant snuffs out the sun, the whole of storyland is plunged into chaotic darkness.
What they need is someone with fiery breath to re-ignite the sun. If only there was someone like that around?
This is an awesome story that plays with all the fairy tale tropes we know and love. We still stick by our original summary - that every story really needs a dragon in it.
Charlotte's best bit: When the dragon turns up in Little Red Riding Hood.
Daddy's favourite bit: A highly original romp through fairy tales we know and love - and one of the best storybook dragons we've seen in ages! It's fiery fun!
(kindly supplied for review)
"There is no Dragon in this Story" by Lou Carter and Deborah Allwright is out now, published by Bloomsbury.