Ellie’s Dragon by Bob Graham (review)

When little Ellie finds a tiny dragon hatched out of an egg, she names him Scratch and nurtures him tenderly. Grownups can’t see Scratch, but he’s visible to Ellie and other children, and he’s her boon companion even as he grows into a large and unwieldy creature who has to cling to the roof of Ellie’s dad’s car to ride along. As Ellie gets into her teens, Scratch starts to fade, and finally he wanders away—only to be found by young Sam, who’s delighted to discover “a fully grown, house-trained, affectionate dragon, just looking for a new home.” While the “Puff, the Magic Dragon” story is a well-worn one, Australian author Graham treats both Ellie’s love of Scratch and her outgrowing of him with soothing matter-of-factness. As usual with Graham, it’s his gently puffy, diverse, and rumpled illustrative cast that really makes the story; Scratch is very much a Graham dragon in his cuddly bumpy scaliness, and it’s a hoot to watch all the kids pointing at him in wonder as the adults pass by oblivious. There’s an adult perspective to the trajectory and audiences may understand the story different ways depending on their own relationships with Scratch-like companions, but they’ll be reassured by the notion that even the most evanescent of good friends can go on to find welcome elsewhere.