My Father’s Dragon

Introduction

My Father’s Dragon is a novel written by Ruth Stiles Gannett. The story tells the adventures of Elmer, a boy who flees to an island to rescue a baby dragon. This book is the first part of a trilogy, followed by Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragons of Blueland.

Besides, the way the author narrates the events is quite particular, as the narrator calls the protagonist “my father.” Thus, the reader has the impression that it is a true story that happened in the past.

Plot

On a rainy day, “my father” met a cat. He invited the cat home for warmth and milk. They became friends, but my father’s mother disliked the cat. Thus, she refused to feed it, which saddened my father. I thought, “My father” kept feeding the cat secretly until his mother caught him, and she got furious. But this did not stop him, and he continued to care for the cat.

During a walk, the cat told “my father” about Wild Island, and the story intrigued him. Animals needed to cross a wide river on the island, but lazy crocodiles were unreliable. Indeed, a baby dragon fell, and the animals tied up it to carry passengers. Due to this, the dragon’s life is tough. After listening to the story, “My Father” plans to rescue the baby dragon. So, he packs a knapsack with supplies and food.

Then, with the cat’s help, “my father” sneaks onto a ship to the Wild Island, where the savage animals keep the dragon. To avoid being caught, he disguises himself as a sack of wheat but is mistaken for a pack of dried corn. So, the sailors leave him on Cranberry Island. Despite all the warnings about the dangers, he manages to cross the rocks at night. Accidentally, “my father” lands on the back of a sleeping whale, but finally, after several hours of effort, he makes it to Wild Island.

Adaptation

The book had an animated film adaptation under the name Elmer’s Adventures: My Father’s Dragon in 1997.

Later, in 2011, Travis Tagart adapted the story into a musical for children.

The most recent animated adaptation was in 2022 by Cartoon Saloon and Netflix Animation.

Licensing

Ruth Stiles Gannett. My Father’s Dragon. Publisher: Random House (New York), 1948. Originally published in 1948. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed, so it is considered from public domain in United States.Text from: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/gannett/dragon/dragon.html
This digital edition is provided by Ebooks-net in 2024 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. The full text of the license is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.