In this much-loved picture book, a little mouse walks through the woods and encounters a fox, an owl and a snake. It was obvious in the movie that Zog didn’t really fit in with the other dragons. Pearl’s story was also expanded so I gained more of an understanding of the role she was being trained to fill. I liked them in the book but their personalities came to life on screen and I was more focused on their friendship developing through the years. I smiled while I read but I laughed throughout the movie.

Julia Donaldson is one of today's most popular writers. Her bestselling titles include The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child and Room on the Broom. Although she is best-known for her picture books, Julia also writes longer novels, plays and songs. She lives in Glasgow and spends a lot of time on stage performing her brilliant sell-out singalong shows! A family film based on the much-loved picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.Zog is a keen dragon at Dragon School who aims to be the best in his class and win a golden star. The story follows his attempts at learning to fly, roar and breathe fire, leading to a series of minor injuries for which a mysterious girl provides assorted bandages and plasters. What a good idea!” I’d like to introduce you to my new favourite dragon, Zog. He’s Madam Dragon’s most enthusiastic student and he desperately wants to earn one of his teacher’s golden stars. Throughout the book Madam Dragon’s students learn all of the dragon basics, including flying, roaring and breathing fire. “Now that you’ve been shown, you can practise on your own” While Zog is practicing his new skills he encounters Pearl, a caring, friendly young girl. Throughout the years they continue to meet and become friends.

Zog, the biggest dragon at Dragon School, learns different skills throughout the book, with a few blunders along the way. But with the help of Princess Pearl, he eventually wins a golden star and agrees to go out and help other people/creatures as an ambulance for the flying doctors: Princess Pearl and Gadabout. Axel was born in Hamburg, Germany. At school he was good at art, but didn't think of a career in illustration until he won a cuddly purple cow in a drawing competition. He moved to England in 1982 to study illustration at the Bath Academy of Art, and then set up home in London. Find some other images of dragons and use these as the starting point for your own? (see Resources below). Whilst ‘Zog’ may not quite have the feel of a Donaldson/Scheffler classic (a la ‘Gruffalo’ et al) it’s not far off and nevertheless it’s a very strong addition to their already impressive canon of excellent children’s books. Princess Pearl doesn’t like silly frilly dresses. Can you design some new clothes that she might like?Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.

I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. Zog is definitely a new favourite in our home, it is a beautifully written story with lots of nice rhymes and repetition , but it is perhaps not as good as some of the other Julia Donaldson books like the Gruffalo. However, the illustrations are spectacular and it really is one of the brightest, well illustrated baby books that we own so far. I knew that our editor really wanted a dragon story, but it wasn’t till I hit on the name “Madam Dragon” that I decided the book should be a school story. He has various other mishaps in everything he tries to do and each time the little girl is there to lend a helping hand. With all his misadventures he realises that it will be difficult to achieve his ambition to win a golden star.Madame Dragon first of all teaches her dragon pupils to fly and although Zog begins flying 'fast and free', he eventually crashes into a tree. He requires a plaster for his head and a little girl comes out of the woods to tend to his injuries ... and off he flies again. Could you write a similar story showing what different creatures might learn at their own schools (e.g. a unicorn, a mermaid, a goblin)? The dragons all learn to roar as loud as possible. Can you plan an investigation to measure how loud different sounds are? There are numerous twists in the tale; the girl turns out to be a princess whose ambition it is to be a doctor rather than wearing silly dresses and hiding in castles, and the knight who comes to rescue her would rather ‘wear a twisty stethoscope’ than armour.