The Book of Dragons

By: E. Nesbit

Narrated by: Karen Krause

Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Edith (E.) Nesbit was a master at weaving imagination and real life into timeless fairy tales, with fantastic mythical creatures, princes and princesses, magic, and just the right touch of silliness. This is a collection of nine of her fairy tales with a common theme - Dragons! For children from five to 95, these stories are not to be taken seriously. Let your imagination run wild!

The Book of Beasts - A young king finds a magical book once owned by his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and unwittingly sets a wicked beast loose in his kingdom. Now he must find a way to best the beast and win back the love of his subjects.

Uncle James - The island kingdom of Rotundia is normal in every way but one - all the animals are the wrong sizes. And when a purple dragon finds its way to the island and desires the princess as a birthday present, young Tom the garderner's son, along with his lap dog sized elephant Fido, must find a way to save her.

The Deliverers of Their Country - "It all started when Effie got something in her eye..." and before the week was out, the country was overrun with dragons of all sizes. Effie and Harry decide something must be done, so they set out to wake St. George.

The Ice Dragon - Have you ever wanted to travel to the North Pole? See the Aurora Borealis up close and personal? Well, make sure you catch up to George and Jane, two disobedient children, who on December 11th, set out to do just that, finding adventure and a dragon on the way.

The Island of the Nine Whirlpools - When the King and Queen were ready to have a child, the Queen did what all good queens do; she visited the local witch. But she forgot to specify the King wanted a boy child.

The Fiery Dragon - Poor Sabrinetta, granddaughter to brave St. George the dragonslayer, has been banished to her dragon-proof tower while her evil cousin rules her kingdom. But when the dragon wakes, Prince Tiresome runs to the safety of her tower, throwing her out to fend off the dragon by herself. Can she and Elfin the pigkeeper save her people before the dragon has his way with them?

The Dragon Tamers - John the Blacksmith doesn't know what is at the bottom of the stairs leading down from the dungeon. With any luck, he'll never find out. But one day when he goes into the dungeon to fetch more coal, he comes face to face with the dragon that has risen from the depths. It looks like today John's luck may have run out. Or is it just beginning?

Kind Little Edmond - Edmund is not fond of learning but he loves to find out. One day he finds out about the creatures living in the mountain near his village and thinks maybe he doesn't like finding out about things so much after all. But once the creatures have been found, there is nothing to do but find a way to save the village before it's too late.

The Last of the Dragons - As tradition holds, on her 16th birthday, the Princess must be tied to a post and left for the dragon. Of course, the Prince has always slain the dragon and saved the Princess. But this Princess is none too confident in the Prince's ability to save her. She's much better at her fencing lessons than he. So why can't the Prince be tied up and saved by the Princess? And, why must the last dragon in England be slain at all?

Public Domain (P)2017 Karen Krause

Loved these tales!

These are a series of (often) tongue-in-cheek tales of dragons and other mythological creatures interacting with princes, princesses, stable-boys, and other humans. There are several separate tales, so you can listen to it in segments, one story at a time. None of the stories depends on any of the others. The stories are entertaining, and often hilariously funny. They will delight both children and adults alike.

The narration is smooth, and well-paced, and the voices of the various characters are varied and distinguishable.

I was voluntarily provided a free review copy of this audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Gorgeous Storytelling brought to life by K. Krause

This is such a lovely listen. I am halfway through listening to these short stories by E. Nesbit. Stories of little Kings and brave princesses, large dragons, magic books and newts! I decided to write this review before listening to all the short stories for a couple reasons.

1. It only takes an hour or two of listening to Karen Krause to fall in love with her storytelling (I was hooked before the end of the first story!).

She is able to immediately transport you to the various lands and make you laugh at the little quirks of our young heroes/heroines. She captures the innocence of the children, the starchiness of the more wiser and the playfulness of the beasts. You can clearly hear Nesbit's gentle reminders of 'how we, of course, would never do this or that!'.

2. This book is meant to be enjoyed and not rushed through. What child would want you to rush through a story?!

I'm on chapter 5 and come back to listen to a story or two when I'm in the mood for a little adventure!

Bravo to Ms. Krause and her wonderful performance in bringing this classic to life.

Mature Content: none

I requested a free copy of this audiobook from the narrator. My review is unbiased and voluntarily offered.

Delightful kids saving the world with/out dragons

This charming collection of children’s tales all center around dragons of one ilk or another. Each story can be read as a stand alone. I’ve had the pleasure of listening to and reviewing two of these stories previously and when I saw that he narrator had 8 stories in one collection, I couldn’t resist. I know it would be good stuff and I wasn’t disappointed. These stories are great for kids and fun for adults too.

The Book of Beasts – This is one of the stories I have previously listened to and reviewed. It was just as good the second time around. The child king Lionel finds a book once owned by one of his distant grandsires. Like all good kids, he plays with it and sets a giant butterfly free. He’s warned not to do so again, but he releases yet another fantastical critter (a bird of paradise), and then another (the dragon!), which threatens his kingdom and he must make it right again. A hippogriff and manticore come into play too! 5/5

Uncle James – This story was so cute and it was mostly because there are cute little dog-sized elephants! Who doesn’t want a pet elephant that can snuggle on your lap and eat popcorn while you watch Flight of the Dragons? This tale takes place in Rotundia where all the sizes are backwards and a dragon has shown up that wants a princess as a present. Now this isn’t your typical ‘save the princess from the dragon’ story, as young Tom found out. By the way, keep your eye on Uncle James. He may not be trustworthy! 5/5

The Deliverers of Their Country – This was my favorite out of all the stories. It starts with young Effie getting something in her eye and that something is a teensy tiny dragon! Go ahead, squeal in love and excitement. I know I did. Who doesn’t want to adopt such a little dragon? However, these small dragons keep popping up throughout the land and they are starting to wreak havoc. Now Effie and her friend Harry have to find a way to reduce the number of dragons. It’s a clever solution to an over-population problem. 6/5

The Ice Dragon – Imagine North Pole dwarves dressed in seal skin. Now toss in an ice dragon. Lastly, make room for two adventurous kids, George and Jane, who just wanted to see the Northern Lights. things go ever so wrong. This story was actually a little gruesome because it has a bit of a body count. It’s not gory but I was a little surprised at little bit of darkness that crept into this story. Still, it was clever and the kids survive, so all’s well. 5/5

The Island of the Nine Whirlpools – This was an interesting one. A childless Queen goes to an old witch begging for a child and the witch takes her jewels and uses them to whip up a baby girl. The Queen is totally satisfied but the King wanted a boy. So obviously, that makes a wedge between the couple. When the daughter reaches a certain age, he banishes her to an island that is protected by big beasties, like a dragon. Her mother, the Queen, and the witch both make sacrifices to make it possible for her to one day be rescued. I liked that the story hinged upon the love for an old crone. However, the princess to be rescued seemed rather daft to me, which I didn’t really care for. 4/5

The Fiery Dragon – This is the second story in this collection that gives a nod to St. George, a famous dragon slayer. Granddaughter Sabrinetta has got some skills on her which is a good thing because her unscrupulous cousin, Prince Tiresome, tosses her out of the dragon-proof tower to deal with the fiery dragon. Luckily she has a great friend, Elfin the pigkeeper, who can help her. That’s another thing I really like about these stories – so often there’s a ‘commoner’ that is essential to solving whatever dragon issue there is. 5/5

The Dragon Tamers – This had a little steampunky feel to it. John is a blacksmith and he and his wife have a new baby that cries often and loudly. Yet even with that intermittent noise, John has noticed an odd sound coming from the basement. He finally has to go down there for coal and he meets this dragon that needs rivets to repair his wing. The dragon isn’t shy about telling John what he plans to do once his wing is repaired: eat all the people including John and his family. Now John has to outsmart this dragon and that loud baby gets to play a key role in the subterfuge. It was clever and fun. 5/5

Kind Little Edmond – This is the second story I had the privilege to enjoy previously. This is the tale of young Edmond, who was filled to the brim with curiosity, so much so that he often irritated his elders. But not his loving and doting grandmother. Edmond decides to explore the nearby mountains and hears some very odd sounds. He meets and helps a mythical beast, a manticore, who rewards him by telling him magnificent tales. This was a great little tale and I really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed this one as the tale has this underlying current about the value of learning things for oneself. 5/5

The Last of the Dragons – This great little story turns the typical princess + dragon + prince story on it’s head. Tradition requires the princess to be rescued from the dragon by a prince. However, this princess would much rather rely on her own fencing skills. The dragon isn’t too thrilled about the idea of coming out, threatening a nice young lady, and then being slain for the sake of tradition. This prince is up for doing something different. Why should he have to do all the hard work? It’s a great story to finish out the book. 5/5

I received a free copy of this book via The Audiobook Worm.

The Narration: Karen Krause does such a lovely job with this classic. Her little kid voices are so believable yet she is also great at doing grumpy elderly characters as well. Her voices for the various beasts are also fun. You can tell that she enjoyed narrating these tales as much as I enjoyed listening to them. Great performance all around!

Great childhood memory

It was a great pleasure to listen to a book I loved as a child so beautifully narrated. It brought up sweet memories.
Highly recommended for all ages.


I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobookworm Promotions. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Wonderful children's fantasy!

I'm not sure how I went my entire childhood without ever experiencing any of these. But as it is, this is a fantastic collection of short dragon-centric stories.

Karen Krause does an excellent job narrating the audiobook. Her voices are top notch, with even her male voices being varied and believable. Her vocal inflections are excellent and her tempo shifts throughout border on perfection.

Each of the 8 included stories are very different, from tone to theme to character and even setting.

All have rather bold-faced messages for the young ones, but even those are presented in entertaining and often comedic ways.

The characters are mostly good-hearted folk who manage to get themselves out of the troubles they often create for themselves in ways that are both touching and hilarious.

I can't recommend this book enough, whether you happen to be young or just young at heart. Or even just if you need a break from all the more serious fantasy stories you might have been reading recently.

Cute children's stories

This is a cute collection of short children's stories, all featuring dragons in some way. They are sometimes good and sometimes evil but always different. The reading was good with plenty of different voices and accents for the different characters. It was read in a way that reminded me of the Enid Blyton books I read as a child, with an old-fashioned tone.
I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobookworm Promotions. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

A lovely collection

This is a collection of nine dragon stories for children (but adults will find them charming as well). The stories range fro 20 minutes to about40 minutes with most being close to 30 minutes. They would work well as bedtime stories.

Karen does an wonderful job with the narration, it's perfectly done for children and really makes the collection come alive. I was very impressed with the number of voices she created.

Each of the stories carries a message about doing what you are told and not getting into trouble woven into the storyline, it's really quite cleverly done.

Note: This book was provided free by the author/narrator/publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

Children stories with dragons

Any additional comments?

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.


Karen voices the story as one would reading to a young child, which is expected being the book is for children. She makes it sound fun with voicing the characters in different tones to fit their stature. I found I really enjoyed Karen's narration. She felt as though she was into the stories as she read to the children.

All stories are about 30-40 minutes long.

I had forgotten how far stretched children's stories were. They make me smile and shake my head at times, but they are enjoyable.

The Book of Beasts
Young Lionel becomes king. As a child himself, he wants a book read to him at bed. He finds The Book of Beasts in the library and is drawn out of curiosity to read it. A library full of books that his great-great-great-great-great grandfather filled, and was also thought to be a wizard. When Lionel opens the book, he's surprised to see the creatures come to life, even the one on the third page that could be very dangerous.

This feels like a great story to open with. Lionel is young and just learning the way of the world and he makes a mistake, but learns to be responsible from it. Also, it introduces us to the first dragon.


Uncle James, or the Purple Stranger
When the one and only dog barks all night, Tom goes out to investigate. Tom finds a large purple dragon licking his wounded wing.

This is cute with the animals that are of opposite sizes we know them to be. There is a reason, history, given as to why which is quickly given. This history becomes a very important thing in this story at the end.

I rolled my eyes at the princess kissing Tom and how Tom had all the answers. But the story was still cute in it's world creation for children.


The Deliverers of Their Country
Dragons appear, of all sizes and take over the land. Though, they don't like the chill of night so the people adjust their living to sleep during day and come out at night. Until Effie and Harry want to find the dragon slayer of legend, during the afternoon.

Listening in order, I think this is my favorite story. Effie is more present in the actions against the dragons. Also, the story is a way to describe the reason for London's weather condition. I very much like the Tap Room.


The Ice Dragon, or Do As You Are Told
Jane and George see the Northern Lights and Jane wants to go see them up close. Walking across the grass, as they are told not to do, they head out on their long journey to the north pole. When they arrive they find trouble. But have made friends along the way who help.

You never know when you'll need a helping hand. Always help those around you when you are out, it could come back to help you. Jane and George help animals that are in unnecessary danger due to other humans, and those animals make a difference when Jane and George need it most.


The Island of the Nine Whirlpools
Returning from the witch's home, the Queen finds the baby she wanted. However, the King is not happy as they were given a Princess and not a Prince, as he wanted. When the Princess is old enough, she is locked away, awaiting the clever prince to find her.

This was a cute story. I liked the idea of how babies are brought to kings and queens here. Not by a stork but by a witch. But what I really liked is what the mother does to stay with her daughter. This is dear. And the witch is not portrayed as an evil one, but as a good one.

This story also shows how math is important to figure when the best time to rescue the princess.


The Fiery Dragon, or the Heart of Stone and the Heart of Gold
The princess's cruel cousin rules the land until she's of age. She's taken everything from her and she lives in the dragon proof tower, watching the land. On May Day she sees a dragon by the woods. When the children go in to pick their flowers, they come running out screaming. The cruel prince makes his way to kill the dragon.

This has a princess that has a great idea to help with ridding the kingdom of the terrible dragon. But she's also one that gives love so easily.

It's a neat twist on the dragon's at night and how to remove it from the land. It kind of explains the hot whirlpools that steam too.


The Dragon Tamers
John's a blacksmith in a town with a well known blacksmith already. Working in the ruins of a castle he finds a dragon in the dungeon one day. The dragon needs the help of a blacksmith.

This story tells how a dragon changes to a... I can't say. You have to listen to see where this domesticated animal comes from.

This story was a little slow for me. I didn't seem to enjoy it as much as the others, not that it's bad just not as the others were.


Kind Little Edmund, or the Caves and the Cockatrice
Edmund is an inquisitive young boy. He walks in the mountains by the caves where others won't because of strange noises. He created a lantern to take with him to investigate the caves, to learn what the strange noises were.

This one's okay too. Edmund is the type of child to question everything, and has a creative mind. I like that about him.


The Last of the Dragons
Dragons have grown rare for princesses to find and be rescued from. One dragon remains and the princess proposes that she save a prince from the dragon instead of being saved.

Aaaah. This is the story I was waiting for. I love the Princess in this story. And I love the way it ended. It's even better than I'd hoped.



These stories are all told as the old princess and dragon tales are told. Princess is in trouble and she's helped. Though, there are a few places where the princesses show they have brains and spark the ending of the story. I like that they have a glimmer of knowledge and use it.

Classic fairytale style.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The narrator is spot on with her voice characterizations; I highly recommend!

What did you like best about this story?

The stories are classic fairytale style wrapped up in Wonderland hijinx, and Gulliver like adventure. Each one features a unique dragon.

What does Karen Krause bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Karen's voice characterizations are stellar. It's like listening to a full cast production.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

As usual with well written fairytales, I smiled a lot.

Classic Fairy Tales Told Well

Summary: About 8 separate tales featuring dragons of all shapes, sizes, and temperaments.

Additional Comments:
- I heard the audiobook, and I went into it knowing I already like the narrator. This is one of the first books that I had a hard time finding on audible due to the fact that there are like 6 different versions. Since it’s a public domain book, quite a few people have taken a crack at it.
- The narrator indeed put on a lovely performance.
Here are my individual ratings for the stories:
- The Book of Beasts – (3/5) Lionel lets out all sorts of things from a magic book. Kind of just wanted to smack the small idiot king.
- Uncle James, or the Purple Stranger – (4/5) a kingdom has animals that vary in size from what we’re used to. Intriguing twists involved here.
- The Ice Dragon, or do as you are told – (4/5) Sort of a moral “here’s what sort of trouble you get if you don’t listen” tale. Features really annoying dwarves.
- The Island of Nine Whirlpools – (5/5) This is what you expect when you think tales with dragons and princesses.
- The Dragon Tamers – (4.5/5) Not sure why it starts so early in the timeline of the story, but it’s a fun tale overall.
- The Fiery Dragon or the Heart of Stone or the Heart of Gold – (4/5) Typical tale of strange magic rules of saving somebody.
- Kind Little Edmund or the Caves and the Cockatrice – (3.5/5) That poor kid. This one hit several bizarre buttons in me, even for a fairy tale.

Conclusion:
These are classic style fairy tales. As with any collection, I enjoyed some way more than others. It’s somewhat disappointing that the last one didn’t connect well with me, but it’s a worthwhile collection of stories.

*I received a free copy of the audiobook. I have chosen to post a review. All thoughts are my own.