The Children’s Book Review | March 25, 2017
My Little Pony: The Dragons on Dazzle Island
Written and Illustrated by Mary Jane Begin
Age Range: 4 to 8
Hardback Book: 40 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-0316282277
What to expect: My Little Pony, adventure, friendship
In this exciting tale starring everyone’s favorite My Little Pony characters, the magical friends learn how to help dragons.
Rarity the pony receives word that her entire shipment of gemstones from Dazzle Island has been cancelled. The Great Dragon Migration has brought dragons to Dazzle Island, and those precious gems can’t be harvested. Whatever will she do? Luckily her pony friend Fluttershy and little dragon friend Spike offer to sail to Dazzle Island and talk some sense in to those dragons. But when they reach their destination, the magical friends find out that all is not as it seems. The dragons are mothers and are simply trying to hatch their eggs. The local ponies are frustrated with the dragon visitors, and evil weather monsters have settled on the island. The monsters feed off the fighting and turn all the tropical weather as cool as a winter in the mountains. Without warm temperatures, the dragon mothers cannot hatch their eggs and leave. What can Spike and Fluttershy do?
With a dose of understanding, the two friends convince the local ponies that if they all hug the precious dragon eggs with all of their hearts, it will warm the dragon babies inside enough to hatch. Fluttershy and Spike have rescued the island, saved the gemstone supply, helped a new friend gain her cutie mark and hatch adorable baby dragons.
Children familiar with the My Little Pony franchise will adore this new adventure, and for those new to the franchise this is a great starter book. Full of twists and turns, this story keeps little readers flipping the pages without being too stressful before bedtime. Will the ponies save the day? Will the dragon babies hatch? The happy ending is heartwarming and uplifting.
There are enough words for older children to really get in to the story, yet the premise is simple enough that even the smallest readers will be entranced. The illustrations are richly colorful and very engaging. The familiar ponies are just as beautiful and expressive as they are on television. The dragons are classically composed with just a hint of added cuteness (think long eyelashes and bedazzled jeweled foreheads) to give them a new twist. My daughter’s favorite illustration featured glowing dragon eggs with beautiful colorful ponies hugging them.
Overall an exciting adventure for girls and boys featuring famous friends. Highly recommended.
Available Here:
About Mary Jane Begin
Mary Jane Begin is an award-winning illustrator for several children’s picture books including The Wind in the Willows, A Mouse Told His Mother, and Little Mouse’s Painting. She is also a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design.
My Little Pony: The Dragons on Dazzle Island, by Mary Jane Begin, was reviewed by Denise Mealy. Discover more books like My Little Pony: The Dragons on Dazzle Island by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Adventure, Dragons, Friendship, Horses, and My Little Pony.
