1. “Raising Dragons” by Jerdine Nolen
Theme 3

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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.

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

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

7. Key Vocabulary
appetite
chores
harvested
hitched
plow
sown
tended

8. the desire for food; hunger
appetite
the desire for food; hunger

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

10. picked and brought in a crop
harvested
picked and brought in a crop

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

12. 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

13. sown
planted seeds

14. tended
took care of

15. 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.

16. 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?

17. 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.

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

19. 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

20. 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 Houghton Mifflin’s web site.
Click Here!