“Raising Dragons” by Jerdine Nolen Theme 3

Awards The Christopher Award Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award Bank St. College Best Children’s Books of the Year

Genre: Fantasy A fantasy is a type of incredible story that has characters and events that could occur in real life combined with those that could not. Something that is incredible is amazing, unbelievable, or not likely to happen.

Summary A young girl hatches and raises Hank, a dragon, on her family’s farm. Hank helps out, but soon the girl realizes she has to find him a new home. She says good-bye to Hank on Dragon Island, but returns to the farm with a new batch of dragon eggs. After all, raising dragons is in her blood.

Background Information Dragons are imaginary creatures in the reptile family. They can fly and breathe fire.

living and working on a farm Key Concept living and working on a farm

Key Vocabulary appetite chores harvested hitched plow sown tended

the desire for food; hunger appetite the desire for food; hunger

everyday jobs or responsibilities around a home chores everyday jobs or responsibilities around a home

picked and brought in a crop harvested picked and brought in a crop

fastened an animal to a piece of farm equipment hitched fastened an animal to a piece of farm equipment

to turn over dirt, often in long rows, so that seeds can be planted plow to turn over dirt, often in long rows, so that seeds can be planted

sown planted seeds

tended took care of

Strategy Focus: Predict/Infer We predict/infer before we read to help us make a reasonable guess about what might happen. This strategy helps our mind use prior knowledge and story clues to help us understand what will happen in the story.

Strategy Focus: Predict/Infer Let’s try it! Strategy Focus: Predict/Infer Read the title. Predict what you think this story will be about? (Be specific!) ~or~ Since the girl is holding the dragon on the cover, what can you infer about him?

Comprehension Skill Focus: Drawing Conclusions When you draw a conclusion, you will use details from the story to form a general idea not specifically stated. This skill is not a guess, but rather based on specific examples and details the author tells you in the story or by using the illustrations that accompany the text. For example, we see wings on the dragon in the picture on the title page, and we know wings are used to fly, so we can draw the conclusion that dragons fly.

Fill in the organizer with details from the story. Graphic Organizer Fill in the organizer with details from the story.

Meet the Author (from www.eduplace.com) What's it like to be one of eight children in a family? Jerdine Nolen knows! She says that as a child, she had to have a good sense of humor because she didn't have much space. Also, since there was always something to do and people to do it with, she was never bored. Jerdine Nolen is still quite busy. She is an author, a wife, a mother (of two), and a teacher. She loves writing and is happy to have her stories edited. She likes having an editor who cares enough about her work to want to make it better. (from www.eduplace.com)

Link to Houghton Mifflin If you enjoyed reading “Raising Dragons” and would like to check out some more information and activities, click below to go to www.eduplace.com, Houghton Mifflin’s web site. Click Here!