Dragons Rule, Princesses Drool! by Courtney Pippin-Mathur

Dragons Rule, Princesses Drool! by Courtney Pippin-Mathur
Little Simon: Simon & Schuster

Rating: 5 stars

My kids and I became fans of Courtney Pippin-Mathur years ago when we came across Maya Was Grumpy, a book where a girl's hair becomes wilder and wilder as she becomes grumpier and grumpier. With the help of one clever grandmother, both her mood and her hair are tamed. In addition to loving her work as an author/illustrator, Courney Pippin-Mathur helped me out at the Great Falls Writer's Day about two years ago, leading a workshop for young author/artists. What did these children do? They created their own dragons, then wrote stories about them. This book had just been sold, and dragons were on Courtney's mind.

But now, the book is finally out!

Dragons Rule, Princesses Drool! starts out with one small dragon, who wants to believe in his own strength and magnificence and importance. His flames "blasted into the sky, frightening everyone who came near!"

"Well, almost everyone."

"Well, almost everyone."

Except for two princesses. Our little dragon deems them "dangerous creatures" and watches in horror as his dragon playmates put on ruffled clothes and let the princesses fly on their backs. Although the dragons try the princesses's ways, they princesses can't seem to master the dragon's favorite things to do. They cannot eat dragon peppers. They cannot not burp. And they cannot breathe flames. Watching the transformation from mighty to silly of his dragon friends, our little dragon fears that the land will never be the same again--dragons will never rule like they once did!

He needs help, so he goes to the royal knight--who turns out not to care one bit about the princesses. He wants the dragons!

With all of his dragon buddies caught up in one big net, our little dragon has no one but the princesses to turn to for help. And you'll love how they help the dragons: with one big giant, flamey BURP!

The way this book plays on and dances around gender norms and expectations is cute and sweet and important. And, in the end, our little dragon is friends with the very princesses he first plots against. That sort of ending is not just satisfying for readers of this book, but also is pretty normal in real-life childhood adventures.

Maya Was Grumpy by Courtney Pippin-Mathur

Maya Was Grumpy by Courtney Pippin-Mathur
Flashlight Press

Rating: 5 stars

Maya was grumpy. She doesn't know why she's in what my dad called a poopy mood. She doesn't want to "read or color or eat banana chips, or wear her favorite shorts, or go outside and play." She just wants to spread the bad mood--the cat she snarls at, the birds she makes faces at, and the brothers she grumbles to get out of her way.

Gramma in the kitchen is the only one left. So Maya thumps and growls and takes her bad mood over to Gramma.

But there's no pulling down Gramma into her bad mood. Nope. Wise, cheerful Gramma has a few tricks up her polka-dotted, muumuu sleeves. Gramma starts listing silly things that she was going to do with Maya and her brothers today--things that will now have to be rescheduled because of Maya's grumpy mood.

"Feeling a little grumpy today?" Gramma asked.
Maya just scowled.

"I guess that means no hunting for hippos after breakfast," she starts with.

"And no putting your head in a crocodile's mouth before lunch," as she shrugs her shoulders.

"Bathing baby elephants would probably be a bad idea today if you're grumpy," Gramma says as she moves around through the breakfast routine.

Each wild suggestion is vividly painted for young readers to see, in colors brighter than the brightest imagination. There's Gramma and Maya and two boys swimming along, looking for hippos...and Gramma and Maya and two boys tickling a toothy tarantula...and Gramma and Maya and two boys sliding down the neck of a super tall giraffe.

In the beginning, Gramma's wild suggestions are met with scowls and "That's just silly" comments and the dreaded eye roll. But soon, Maya can't help but crack a smile, and the corners of her frown are wiggling up a little more each time, until a giggle bursts out and breaks up that grumpy mood once and for all.

...and Maya felt much better.

Maya hugs Gramma.

I can't write one more thing about this book without mentioning Maya's wild and fiery, curly-swirly mass of hair. It covers the first few pages and serves as the embodiment of her grumpiness. I don't know how Pippin-Mathur came up with this hair-as-mood idea but it is just great! As Maya calms down and cools off and cheers up, her hair also comes back to a more self-controlled state.

My fingers are crossed that your kids have a Gramma-like person in their lives who can evaporate bad moods with patience and love and silliness. In fact, I hope YOU have a Gramma-like person who can quietly and sweetly make your poopy mood POOF! disappear. And I hope us curly-swirly hair types can tame the frizz like Maya can...