vumile and the dragon

My Dad is a big fan of chameleons. He always seems to have some in his garden and one of his great party tricks is to walk around catching flies with one standing on his fore-finger, poised and ready to strike like a tiny bug-eyed hunting rifle.

A few months back he discovered a clutch of baby chameleons, and although I knew the girls would love them, we were concerned they may love them just a little too much so we kept them secret. I felt a bit badly about that.

But I didn't feel badly at all when Hippo Communications sent me a review copy of the very beautifully illustrated Vumile and the Dragon by Claerwen Howie.

And neither did the girls.

We're all about books which work over multiple age groups in this family. We like books that us adults enjoy reading, with story-lines and illustrations varied enough to captivate both girls.

Vumile and the Dragon is all this. Friday was intrigued by Vumile's initial fear of the 'dragon' and reading the story provoked a long discussion on the meaning, and origins of, superstition. Sunday loved finding all the hidden gogga's in Lisa Strachan's rich and detailed colour plates, and long after we'd finished reading the story she was still hunting for the 'meleon's.

Claerwen Howie will be reading from Vumile and the Dragon at the Cape Town Book Fair in the “Children’s Zone” this Saturday, 16 June, between 10h00-10h45, and the book can be ordered directly from Print Matters or found at any good local bookstores.

There's even a picture, the black & white's are illustrated by Meg Jordi, of Vumile looking 'just like Grandad!'

Kinda.