A rich, colour illustrated collection of magical and wonderful stories and poems about dragons by twelve contemporary popular authors, with striking colour illustrations by a skilled artist.

Casgliad darluniadol lliw cyfoethog o gerddi a straeon hudolus a rhyfeddol am ddreigiau gan ddwsin o awduron cyfoes poblogaidd, gyda darluniau trawiadol gan arlunydd crefftus.

Did you know that dragons have been around since before the beginning of time? One made from a volcano’s fire slept in her cave until humans were ready to have her stories whispered into their ears. Gillian Clarke knows all about it. Julie Rainsbury tells how a lonely golden dragon and a battered blue one from under the sea melded together happily and became green. Jenny Sullivan’s cheeky dragon, Hafgan, rescues a scruffy and malodorous knight who promptly invokes the Dragooncode, meaning that Hafgan must take care of him forever. Nona Rees’s cathedral dragon saves St David’s when the Germans come to bomb it – a story based on fact, but possibly not with a dragon as hero! These and eight other well-respected Welsh authors tell stories old and new, sometimes in lyrical mode, sometimes in prose. But it is Brett Breckon’s illustrations that bring the stories together into a magnificent whole. One suspects that Breckon is obsessed with dragons (in the nicest possible way). If so, it is an obsession that has culminated in a talent for drawing them that must be considered high art. His dragons, a different one for each story, glow and shimmer, sometimes fierce, sometimes sad, but never ordinary. The detail is remarkable. Each story begins with a delicately illumined first letter, and even the page numbers are encased in dragon eggs. This is a book to treasure, to read over and over, to relish and be bewitched by. Who knows – one may even become a true believer.

Lucky children will be presented with it this Christmas or for any special occasion in the coming years.

Elizabeth Schlenther

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.