Puff the Magic Dragon (with CD)

Photo of Fiona by Nancy @ Bookfoolery and Babble

Puff the Magic Dragon (with 4-song CD) ~ by Peter Yarrow and Leonard Lipton, illustrated by Eric Puybaret, 2007, children's, 9/10

Staff review:  "This handsome volume offers a charming interpretation of the 1960s folk song, written by Yarrow and Lipton and famously recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary.  Featuring a soothing palette highlighted by greens and blues, Puybaret's graceful acrylic on linen paintings are intermittently misty and sunny.  Echoing the gentle cadence of the song, the sweeping landscapes and seascapes reveal Honalee to be a magical place indeed, with faces appearing on trees, flowers, and rocks.  Other whimsical flourishes include the book's affable ancillary characters, including diminutive winged fairies and red-and-white striped dolphin-like critters that wear graduation caps.  There is, of course, the inevitable somber moment when “One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more,/ And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar”; the dragon gazes wistfully upon the departing boy and then slips sadly into his cave.  But at the creative hand of Puybaret, a French illustrator who here makes his American publishing debut, the song's potentially sad denouement takes an uplifting turn.  As the chorus is repeated one final time, the delighted Puff spies a girl approaching — ostensibly Jackie's daughter — a new friend to frolic with in the autumn mist.  Youngsters concerned about the fate of Puff's first playmate will be comforted to see a smiling, grown-up Jackie looking on.  Adding to the appeal of the book is a CD presenting a new recording of the song (and two others), sung by Yarrow and his daughter Bethany, accompanied by cellist Rufus Cappadocia.  An impressive performance all around.  Ages 3-7.

The book has garnered cat approval, according to Nancy @ Bookfoolery and Babble, who took the photo of her cat at the top of this post.)

"Puff the Magic Dragon has earned the Fiona Kitty Seal of Approval."

Even though Fiona endorses the board book version, I bought the hardback with CD for my great-grandson's second birthday (party coming up in a couple of weeks).  Here are the four songs included on the CD:

1. Puff the Magic Dragon, sung by Peter Yarrow and his daughter Bethany Yarrow
2. Froggie Went A-Courtin'
3. The BlueTail Fly
4. Puff theMagic Dragon, instrumental