It's a lovely, sweet story and quite unusal. The illustrations were very good, although they would be better in colour. Ferdinand is a very friendly dragon and this comes across both in the story and in the illustrations: I don't think any child would perceive him as being scary. My only concern is that the language is a little grown up in places and doesn't always flow although I don't think that a child would necessarily notice this because they would be too interested in what is happening in the story. As well as being an entertaining story, I think it teaches a child about sadness and hope and the importance of friendship. I think adults will enjoy reading this story too, I certainly did.
Pauline Braisher, A LoveReading4Kids Ambassador
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This is a fabulous story about friendship, trust, magic, dragons and Christmas.
This is a lovely story about Ferdinand, the dragon, his friends, Hugo, the bat and Marge, the hen. Ferdinand has lost his magical powers and three eggs in his cave that have not hatched and he is all alone. Hugo has left his home as there was nowhere for him to hang comfortably each day, so he left to find a home of his own. There he finds Ferdinand and finds that he is alone and hasn't been outside in years. They develop trust and friendship, as Hugo gets Ferdinand to go flying at night. Hugo tells Ferdinand that he knows how to get a hen to help hatch his eggs. They finally find Marge, the hen. They take Marge and some straw back to the cave and she starts to sit on the eggs. Unfortunately, she needs more straw, so off the go again.... Read Full Review
I loved this charming Christmas story and wish that I had written it myself. It would be perfect to read aloud to older children on Christmas Eve or for a teacher to read to an older infant/younger junior aged class in the build up to Christmas.
Ferdinand is so distraught that he is the very last of the Christmas dragons, that his tears fill the lake and he feels very alone. An encounter with Hugo, a bat, who has decided to leave his own bustling cave, results in a close friendship and enables Ferdinand to have the confidence to leave his cave and explore. Meeting Marge, a hen who is desperate for a brood, eventually leads to a positive and joyful outcome for them all. Meanwhile, Greta's sharing of her precious family story of a Christmas dragon with her grandson enchants Max so much that his teacher reads the story to the class and the children's belief works its magic. I loved this charming Christmas story and wish that I had written it myself.... Read Full Review
Most will love the pictures and the antics of Ferdinand and his new-found friends and family.
'Ferdinand, the last Christmas Dragon' by Audrey Harings is a simple tale for children of four years and above. The author is German, now living in Spain and writes in her first language. The translation into English by Jason Falconer is sometimes a little quirky but the illustrations by Stephanie Ziermann are delightfully amusing. The sad story of Ferdinand, the last of his kind, is that he is fading because no-one believes in him any more, a fate usually reserved for fairies. With the help of Hugo the bat and Madge the hen however plus a classful of children who rediscover his story, he regains his magic and manages to hatch the three eggs that contain his brothers, though how this was going to ensure the continuation of the species is unclear!... Read Full Review
