We're often wary of children's literature that focuses on safety lessons because of quality issues that plague the genre. The topic is important but often not very interesting or fun, and authors often seem to turn out such titles more as a trade job than a creative endeavor. But prolific author Jean Pendizwol and illustrator Martine Gourbault are on a roll with a series of dragon-themed books that teach young children valuable safety lessons, and we have been pleasantly surprised by their light touch, memorable stories, and engaging humor.

Kids Can Press, publisher of the series, sent us two stories to check out - The Tale of Sir Dragon, a book about bullying, and Once Upon A Dragon, which tackles the unpleasant (for me) issue of stranger safety. In each of them, Pendizwol takes a unique approach to the topic that makes it far more engaging and easily understood to young readers.

Both books are, unlike many well-meaning tracts on safety, fun to read. Once Upon A Dragon sees a child and his friend thrust into a book of fairy tales, where Little Red Riding Hood's wolf attempts to lure them into the forest, Hansel and Gretel's witch offers them candy, and Cinderella's coachman tries to get them to get into his coach (by telling them that the Three Little Pigs are in trouble and sent him to get the the boy and dragon). The fantasy setting, rather than making the issue less real to readers, actually makes it both more compelling and less disturbing. Z was able to ask frank questions about why they shouldn't get into the coach with the man, and I was able to provide real-world advice and instruction, but we always had the fantasy and story to return to. It was a very comforting way to approach a difficult topic, and there is significant four-year-old humor in the fact that the (male) Dragon is frequently dressed as a a girl fairy tale character and is very gullible, only to be saved by his more worldly human counterpart.

The Tale of Sir Dragon has the same two characters facing a bully's aggression in a constructive way during a medieval-themed day camp. Again, Pendizwol's storyline sets us up for success: Because they are at a camp, there is a clear figure of adult authority to go to who can help resolve the issue; he is also play-acting the role of king at the camp (wearing a paper crown over his baseball cap) and calls the bullies as well as the victims to the "round table" to help work out a resolution. Again, the dragon is the object lesson - in this case, the victim of the bullies - while the child plays the role of defender of his friend and assists in negotiating a solution. And again, the blend of fantasy and reality speaks volumes to a young child making sense of a challenging emotional landscape.

The two authors have two other books in this series, one on water safety and one on fire safety. You can find them all on Amazon.com. - Jeremiah