Every so often in a sea of seasonal children's books, one rises to the surface for its ability to capture the hearts and minds of its audience--as well as those who never thought they'd be the audience. Christoph Niemann's The Pet Dragon is just such a feat. Niemann has managed to introduce his old and young readers to the wonders of Chinese pictographs through a cast of delightful characters destined to become classic.
    The Pet Dragon, aptly subtitled A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters, is a buddy tale in which everything takes on the literal shape of a character. He masterfully (and even magically) superimposes and intertwines the narrative, pictographs, and protagonists in such a way that in the end, the reader can actually read Chinese. We've come to expect Niemann's illustration to tickle the senses, and this book does that and more--it's like a great big fortune cookie.