Dragon!

PreS-Gr 2–Pierre and Paul (Avalanche!) are off on another dual-language adventure, this time to take out the trash. Of course they’ll need to use a map, fight a dragon, and wade through a poisonous swamp before they are rewarded with not just trash but treasure too. The text alternates between French and English without including direct translations, allowing readers of only one or the other language to understand by context, but it is still one cohesive story for those who read both. French-speaking Pierre has brown skin and curly black hair and wears glasses; English-speaking Paul has spiky orange hair and cream-colored skin with freckles. But the two are of one mind, which readers willl discern from the childlike brightly colored pencil and watercolor illustrations. A more simplistic and superimposed style is used to differentiate what the boys are imagining from the more detailed scenes of what is really happening. This is one of those terrific adventures that gets better with every reading; adults might pick up a few new words themselves, though it may involve some pronunciation homework before using it as a read-aloud.