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    The Book of Dragons: Volume 1
    The Book of Dragons: Volume 1
    The Book of Dragons: Volume 1
    Audiobook2 hours

    The Book of Dragons: Volume 1

    Written by Edith Nesbit

    Narrated by David Thorn and Bobbie Frohman

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Evelyn Nesbit creates a fantasy world with friendly dragons, mean dragons, colorful dragons and even baby dragons! Find out if the princess gets rescued by her true love. Can the young king save his subjects from the hungry dragon he accidentally released? Enjoy Evelyn Nesbit's fabulous series of 8 short stories beloved by children for over a hundred years.

    1. The Book of Beasts
    2. Uncle James, or the Purple Stranger
    3. The Deliverers of Their Country
    4. The Ice Dragon, or Do as You are Told
    5. The Island Of the Nine Whirlpools
    6. The Dragon Tamers
    7. The Fiery Dragon, or the Heart of Stone and the Heart of Gold
    8. Kind Little Edmund, or the Caves and the Cockatrice
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlcazar Audio Works
    Release dateJan 1, 2004
    ISBN9781939444042
    The Book of Dragons: Volume 1
    Author

    Edith Nesbit

    Edith Nesbit (Londres, 1858-1924) escritora y poetisa que viajó por Inglaterra, España y Francia. Se casó a los 21 años con el político Hubert Bland, con quien tuvo cinco hijos. Su vida fue una continua lucha contra la rectitud victoriana de la época. Es conocida por sus libros para niños llenos de humor y con un estilo innovador que, en ocasiones, desarrolla las aventuras de los protagonistas en una realidad cotidiana con elementos mágicos.

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    Reviews for The Book of Dragons

    4/5

    141 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      *I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.Karen voices the story as one would reading to a young child, which is expected being the book is for children. She makes it sound fun with voicing the characters in different tones to fit their stature. I found I really enjoyed Karen's narration. She felt as though she was into the stories as she read to the children.All stories are about 30-40 minutes long.I had forgotten how far stretched children's stories were. They make me smile and shake my head at times, but they are enjoyable.The Book of BeastsYoung Lionel becomes king. As a child himself, he wants a book read to him at bed. He finds The Book of Beasts in the library and is drawn out of curiosity to read it. A library full of books that his great-great-great-great-great grandfather filled, and was also thought to be a wizard. When Lionel opens the book, he's surprised to see the creatures come to life, even the one on the third page that could be very dangerous.This feels like a great story to open with. Lionel is young and just learning the way of the world and he makes a mistake, but learns to be responsible from it. Also, it introduces us to the first dragon.Uncle James, or the Purple StrangerWhen the one and only dog barks all night, Tom goes out to investigate. Tom finds a large purple dragon licking his wounded wing.This is cute with the animals that are of opposite sizes we know them to be. There is a reason, history, given as to why which is quickly given. This history becomes a very important thing in this story at the end.I rolled my eyes at the princess kissing Tom and how Tom had all the answers. But the story was still cute in it's world creation for children.The Deliverers of Their CountryDragons appear, of all sizes and take over the land. Though, they don't like the chill of night so the people adjust their living to sleep during day and come out at night. Until Effie and Harry want to find the dragon slayer of legend, during the afternoon.Listening in order, I think this is my favorite story. Effie is more present in the actions against the dragons. Also, the story is a way to describe the reason for London's weather condition. I very much like the Tap Room.The Ice Dragon, or Do As You Are ToldJane and George see the Northern Lights and Jane wants to go see them up close. Walking across the grass, as they are told not to do, they head out on their long journey to the north pole. When they arrive they find trouble. But have made friends along the way who help.You never know when you'll need a helping hand. Always help those around you when you are out, it could come back to help you. Jane and George help animals that are in unnecessary danger due to other humans, and those animals make a difference when Jane and George need it most.The Island of the Nine WhirlpoolsReturning from the witch's home, the Queen finds the baby she wanted. However, the King is not happy as they were given a Princess and not a Prince, as he wanted. When the Princess is old enough, she is locked away, awaiting the clever prince to find her.This was a cute story. I liked the idea of how babies are brought to kings and queens here. Not by a stork but by a witch. But what I really liked is what the mother does to stay with her daughter. This is dear. And the witch is not portrayed as an evil one, but as a good one.This story also shows how math is important to figure when the best time to rescue the princess.The Fiery Dragon, or the Heart of Stone and the Heart of GoldThe princess's cruel cousin rules the land until she's of age. She's taken everything from her and she lives in the dragon proof tower, watching the land. On May Day she sees a dragon by the woods. When the children go in to pick their flowers, they come running out screaming. The cruel prince makes his way to kill the dragon.This has a princess that has a great idea to help with ridding the kingdom of the terrible dragon. But she's also one that gives love so easily.It's a neat twist on the dragon's at night and how to remove it from the land. It kind of explains the hot whirlpools that steam too.The Dragon TamersJohn's a blacksmith in a town with a well known blacksmith already. Working in the ruins of a castle he finds a dragon in the dungeon one day. The dragon needs the help of a blacksmith.This story tells how a dragon changes to a... I can't say. You have to listen to see where this domesticated animal comes from.This story was a little slow for me. I didn't seem to enjoy it as much as the others, not that it's bad just not as the others were.Kind Little Edmund, or the Caves and the CockatriceEdmund is an inquisitive young boy. He walks in the mountains by the caves where others won't because of strange noises. He created a lantern to take with him to investigate the caves, to learn what the strange noises were.This one's okay too. Edmund is the type of child to question everything, and has a creative mind. I like that about him.The Last of the DragonsDragons have grown rare for princesses to find and be rescued from. One dragon remains and the princess proposes that she save a prince from the dragon instead of being saved.Aaaah. This is the story I was waiting for. I love the Princess in this story. And I love the way it ended. It's even better than I'd hoped.These stories are all told as the old princess and dragon tales are told. Princess is in trouble and she's helped. Though, there are a few places where the princesses show they have brains and spark the ending of the story. I like that they have a glimmer of knowledge and use it.
    • 4/5
      Nesbit's tone is often preachy, and the narrative voice is a little patronising and didactic, but if you can ignore that, I think these stories are delightful. I liked Prince Tiresome's pack of hippos, and also, perhaps especially, all the reversals in the land of Rotundia: the buns growing on trees, the tiny elephants... Fido the tiny elephant is completely adorable.

      Lovely, and bitesize.
    • 3/5
      I thought the book would have been better but it seemed boring, to me. The fist story was okay but it seemed to have too many "naughty" children as the central characters. I also had a hard time understanding some of the British concepts and wished the edition I read would explain them better for Americans.
    • 3/5
      Cute collection of fairy stories with dragons in them. Some were quite good; some had major logic fails, which bothers me even in fairy stories (if spinning round the right way changed the animals' sizes, did it also remove the bun trees? And what about everyone being good? The story said those were all related...). I'd have liked to read the ninth story that MelHay reviews, but it doesn't appear here - maybe an audiobook bonus? Mildly pleasant, and possibly worth rereading after a while. Hah, found "The Last of the Dragons" available free online. Yes, that's a nice story - and with somewhat older protagonists (many of the stories in The Book of Dragons have children under 10 as protagonists - and there's only so much sibling squabbling I can take).
    • 4/5
      All the stories are enjoyable and they generally contain off-kilter and somewhat sardonic morals.
    • 5/5
      This charming collection of children’s tales all center around dragons of one ilk or another. Each story can be read as a stand alone. I’ve had the pleasure of listening to and reviewing two of these stories previously and when I saw that he narrator had 8 stories in one collection, I couldn’t resist. I know it would be good stuff and I wasn’t disappointed. These stories are great for kids and fun for adults too.The Book of Beasts – This is one of the stories I have previously listened to and reviewed. It was just as good the second time around. The child king Lionel finds a book once owned by one of his distant grandsires. Like all good kids, he plays with it and sets a giant butterfly free. He’s warned not to do so again, but he releases yet another fantastical critter (a bird of paradise), and then another (the dragon!), which threatens his kingdom and he must make it right again. A hippogriff and manticore come into play too! 5/5Uncle James – This story was so cute and it was mostly because there are cute little dog-sized elephants! Who doesn’t want a pet elephant that can snuggle on your lap and eat popcorn while you watch Flight of the Dragons? This tale takes place in Rotundia where all the sizes are backwards and a dragon has shown up that wants a princess as a present. Now this isn’t your typical ‘save the princess from the dragon’ story, as young Tom found out. By the way, keep your eye on Uncle James. He may not be trustworthy! 5/5The Deliverers of Their Country – This was my favorite out of all the stories. It starts with young Effie getting something in her eye and that something is a teensy tiny dragon! Go ahead, squeal in love and excitement. I know I did. Who doesn’t want to adopt such a little dragon? However, these small dragons keep popping up throughout the land and they are starting to wreak havoc. Now Effie and her friend Harry have to find a way to reduce the number of dragons. It’s a clever solution to an over-population problem. 6/5The Ice Dragon – Imagine North Pole dwarves dressed in seal skin. Now toss in an ice dragon. Lastly, make room for two adventurous kids, George and Jane, who just wanted to see the Northern Lights. things go ever so wrong. This story was actually a little gruesome because it has a bit of a body count. It’s not gory but I was a little surprised at little bit of darkness that crept into this story. Still, it was clever and the kids survive, so all’s well. 5/5The Island of the Nine Whirlpools – This was an interesting one. A childless Queen goes to an old witch begging for a child and the witch takes her jewels and uses them to whip up a baby girl. The Queen is totally satisfied but the King wanted a boy. So obviously, that makes a wedge between the couple. When the daughter reaches a certain age, he banishes her to an island that is protected by big beasties, like a dragon. Her mother, the Queen, and the witch both make sacrifices to make it possible for her to one day be rescued. I liked that the story hinged upon the love for an old crone. However, the princess to be rescued seemed rather daft to me, which I didn’t really care for. 4/5The Fiery Dragon – This is the second story in this collection that gives a nod to St. George, a famous dragon slayer. Granddaughter Sabrinetta has got some skills on her which is a good thing because her unscrupulous cousin, Prince Tiresome, tosses her out of the dragon-proof tower to deal with the fiery dragon. Luckily she has a great friend, Elfin the pigkeeper, who can help her. That’s another thing I really like about these stories – so often there’s a ‘commoner’ that is essential to solving whatever dragon issue there is. 5/5The Dragon Tamers – This had a little steampunky feel to it. John is a blacksmith and he and his wife have a new baby that cries often and loudly. Yet even with that intermittent noise, John has noticed an odd sound coming from the basement. He finally has to go down there for coal and he meets this dragon that needs rivets to repair his wing. The dragon isn’t shy about telling John what he plans to do once his wing is repaired: eat all the people including John and his family. Now John has to outsmart this dragon and that loud baby gets to play a key role in the subterfuge. It was clever and fun. 5/5Kind Little Edmond – This is the second story I had the privilege to enjoy previously. This is the tale of young Edmond, who was filled to the brim with curiosity, so much so that he often irritated his elders. But not his loving and doting grandmother. Edmond decides to explore the nearby mountains and hears some very odd sounds. He meets and helps a mythical beast, a manticore, who rewards him by telling him magnificent tales. This was a great little tale and I really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed this one as the tale has this underlying current about the value of learning things for oneself. 5/5The Last of the Dragons – This great little story turns the typical princess + dragon + prince story on it’s head. Tradition requires the princess to be rescued from the dragon by a prince. However, this princess would much rather rely on her own fencing skills. The dragon isn’t too thrilled about the idea of coming out, threatening a nice young lady, and then being slain for the sake of tradition. This prince is up for doing something different. Why should he have to do all the hard work? It’s a great story to finish out the book. 5/5I received a free copy of this book via The Audiobook Worm.The Narration: Karen Krause does such a lovely job with this classic. Her little kid voices are so believable yet she is also great at doing grumpy elderly characters as well. Her voices for the various beasts are also fun. You can tell that she enjoyed narrating these tales as much as I enjoyed listening to them. Great performance all around!
    • 4/5
      Probably not for the very youngest children. One of Nesbit's very best works, and one of my favorites. The sly and ironic attitude helps it hold up well over the generations.
    • 4/5
      A set of short stories having nothing in common except that they are about dragons. Some are rather minor Nesbit, but Nesbit is always worth reading. A line that stuck in my mind as a child was "Fair play is a jewel" --the idea that being fair even to enemies is just.
    • 5/5
      In the midst of this. I read 5 Children and It as a child, but had no idea of the range of E. Nesbit's writing, and had never heard of this one till I picked it up at the library. So sorry I missed it until now! It's so delightful: beautiful imagery, concisely written, and very true to the fairy-tale ethos; but funny, too. And a strange combination of modern (including asides to the reader) and ancient in feel.I looked E. Nesbit up on Wikipedia and was fascinated to find that, at the turn of the century, she married at 7 months pregnant, had an open marriage, raised the children her husband had with his lover as her own, and co-founded a precursor to the modern Labour Party. She was clearly fairly radical, socially and politically speaking, and this makes reading her work all the more interesting. She mentions class-based signifiers (public and private schools, in the English sense; servants and royalty, of course, in the fairy-tale mode; Eton jackets, accepted and poor behavior) quite frequently, and I often can't tell whether she intends irony or subtle instruction to come of this.But aside from her personal life, I would totally recommend this book simply because they're wonderful tales, wonderfully told.
    • 3/5
      These stories are adorable and simply fantastical in the way all fantasy stories should be. I'm pretty sure this was written for children, but I read it just a little while ago and there were plenty of jokes I never would have picked up on if I'd read this book when I'd originally bought it: I think I was between 6 and 8. Maybe it was just that I would have accepted them as fact and obvious when I was younger, but now it all seems novelty. Well, it doesn't really matter, does it?
    • 3/5
      Fun. I remembered nearly every story from decades ago.
    • 4/5
      Long ago, sometime around elementary school, I found a shelf of dragon-story collections in the local public library. At least, that’s my memory—a whole bunch of books that all had bunches of stories of dragons, and I worked my way through all of them, some of them more than once. I have often tried to find some of those books as an adult, but not having authors or titles or anything to go on, kept not-finding them. But I’m pretty sure this book was one of the ones I read back then and loved. Some of the tales seemed familiar, and the overall feeling of reading them was definitely familiar. Just wonderful—really lovely fairy-tale-style dragon stories in a charming little collection.