Have You Seen My Dragon? by Steve Light
I wish that I could have found more images to share with you from Have You Seen My Dragon, the superb new picture book from Steve Light, but you should really buy it and see for yourself anyway! As you can tell by what I do have to share of Light's artwork, he has a style that is reminiscent of another time, specifically the late 1960s and early 1970s. Read my review of Light's last picture book, Zephyr Takes Flight for more rhapsodic waxing on his illustrations, which reminded me of an early Mercer Mayer. Now, with Have You Seen My DragonLight's thick black lines and intricate designs that fill up most of the page call to mind a kinder, gentler Mark Alan Stamaty, author of the unforgettable Who Needs Donuts?
Have You Seen My Dragon is both a counting book and a seek-and-find of sorts. A boy has lost his dragon, and as he travels through the city in search of him he encounters any number of hot dogs, ice cream cones, taxis, buses and more, each of which is the sole object on each page represented in vibrant color. The dragon is also hiding on every page of the book, although not nearly as hard to find as Waldo, but almost as fun.
While every page of Have You Seen My Dragon is a delight, I especially love the endpapers that are a map of all the places in the city that the boy visits looking for his dragon. The black and white grid is marked with the numbers that correspond with each stop (and each colored item found at that stop) and red arrows track the boy's path all over the city. Have You Seen My Dragon makes you want to go back and read the book again from the start, over and over. I can't wait to see what Steve Light does next!
More great books from Steve Light!
