Is your dragon flagging? Use this charming French import to put the spark back in your relationship.A young child wearing a pink homburg is faced with a bit of a pickle: Their dragon, a morose fellow with a bright red head and teal body with black polka dots, isn't breathing fire these days. "Not even the tiniest flicker of flame." Acting as a kind of guidebook, the second-person narration instructs the child on a multitude of possible cures. Have you given him "a good shake"? Bounced on his belly? Made him angry or jealous? When (much) silly trial and error yields bupkis, child informs the blaze-impeded reptile that no matter what, they'll "always love him." Elation finally fuels conflagration, and the dragon spurts a sheer rainbow of happy fire (his pleased owner merrily ducking for cover). Happily, the dragon does not suffer in the least from the protagonist's various forms of experimentation, looking, at worst, mildly perturbed. Though the text evokes instructional booklets, the art is a wild and wonderful amalgamation of bold colors and striking design. The typography almost steals the show with its marvelous variety. Yet it is the message to sit down and tell someone that they are loved that gives the book its true firepower.Inferno or no, this book's gentle call to show appreciation to others adroitly conveys its message. (Picture book. 4-7)

In this amusing addition to the exotic pet care shelf, Lévy (Jojo and the Food Fight!) and Benaglia (Hug This Book!) address a serious issue in dragon raising: what do you do when your beloved dragon has lost its spark? Using two characters-a tenacious child in a pink feathered hat and a very large, very out-of-sorts green dragon with bright red wings-to demonstrate, the creators offer up several strategies. For example: cheat at cards, making the dragon so angry it breathes fire-or bake a birthday cake, because -a dragon can-t resist lighting candles- (the uncredited translation from the French is faultlessly colloquial). And if none of that works (for the characters, none of it actually does), maybe it-s time to stop forcing a return to the dragon-s previous iteration. Instead, -tell him he-s still your dragon, and that you-ll always love him even if he never breathes fire again.- This articulation of unconditional love is served up with an almost uncontainable visual élan: each posterlike spread bursts with bright colors, ink splats, and exuberant hand-drawn typography that sprawls across the page, and almost has a spark of its own. Ages 4-up. (June)