Home > Categories > Books > Kids - Junior > The Dragon Who Lost His Spark review
Sparky the dragon has lost his spark. He sets out on an adventure where he meets some unexpected friends who help him to regain his confidence, optimism and his overall spark.
This is a journey of self-discovery, where Sparky realises that all these wonderful qualities were already inside him; he just needed some life experience and some guidance from his friends to help bring them to the surface.
Illustrated by: Glenn Zimmer
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Our household is comprised of avid book lovers, the youngest is aged 7 years of age. From when they were babies, I would read to each of my three children, now they have all blossomed into bookworms. We are always actively looking out for new and exciting books to read, when I saw 'The Dragon Who Lost His Spark' I knew my youngest who is crazy about dinosaurs and dragons would want to read it.
From the front cover we were instantly greeted with the vibrant colours of the illustrations, with the dragon being the central point, the detail in the pictures is good, my son said he looked like a friendly dragon. Throughout the book the bright and engaging illustrations continued to capture our attention, and each image suited the words on that page. My personal favourite page was where the dragon was confident and brave, he looked super happy and it showed on his face, with the fire coming from his mouth, and his open suitcase losing its contents behind him!
The story focuses on the main character Sparky, which as you probably guessed is the dragon from the cover! Sparky has lost his spark, and wasn't feeling confident and had no energy, so he decided to set off on an adventure to find his spark again so he wouldn't feel so dull. Along the way Sparky meets several animals that enlightened him and shared some of their wisdom, including Owl who told him that confidence comes from inside, Lion who tells Sparky how he beat his fear by saying affirmations, and Bear who told him making mistakes is part of life and builds confidence. Eventually Sparky returned home more optimistic, confident and happy.
This story is certainly a feel-good story about overcoming the feeling of not feeling like your best self, I liked how there were many creatures assisting the dragon along the way, showing him, he was not alone. I recommend this book to preschool and primary school aged children in particular, and I will be donating our copy to our small wee school for their library.
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