malonetraveler's review
3.0
The book is pretty. I hate to be a prude but the women are all bare-chested, nipples and all. That caught me a little off guard since it was a book my first grader brought home from the school library. Also, the text placement can be a little hard to tie to the animals if you aren't already familiar with the mythological creature. So when my daughter asked which animal was which I occasionally had to answer, "I don't know".
stuhlsem's review
2.0
I didn't really like that they were whimsical group names instead of accurate ones... but I think that's a me problem.
leslie_d's review
4.0
“Everyone has heard of groups of animals—a pride of lions, a charm of hummingbirds, a school of fish. If you came upon magical beasts gathered together, what would you call them?” (2) Jacqueline K. Ogburn is marvelous in her response to this question. A Dignity of Dragons is a fun and enchanting read.
If the reader is curious who some of the creatures are, or to whom they belong, there is a glossary at the back. This is a beautiful book and a must see for lovers of magical creatures. And Nicoletta Ceccoli was the perfect fit as an illustrator for this collection of collective nouns.
L @ omphaloskepsis
http://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/ah-nicoletta/
If the reader is curious who some of the creatures are, or to whom they belong, there is a glossary at the back. This is a beautiful book and a must see for lovers of magical creatures. And Nicoletta Ceccoli was the perfect fit as an illustrator for this collection of collective nouns.
L @ omphaloskepsis
http://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/ah-nicoletta/
eirenophile's review
3.0
It was a cute idea for a children's bestiary - about three beasts per page, each with its own appropriate descriptive collective noun. You can find a glossary in the back of the book with short explanations of all of the dozens of mythical creatures illustrated here.
shadyglade's review
I'm torn about this one. I loved the creativity of all the group names, and the glossary in the back explaining each mythical animal and what culture it originates from. But the illustrations were not my favorite, especially since some of the mermaids and harpies were, well, anatomically correct and bare chested. Just seemed out of place to me in a children's book.
just_fighting_censorship's review
4.0
This book presents a wide variety of mythological beast and assigns pack terms. The illustrations are beautiful, mystic, surreal, and dreamy but some of the pack terms lacked imagination or did not roll off the tongue nicely.
I liked the variety and that similar beasts from various cultures were grouped together.
I liked the variety and that similar beasts from various cultures were grouped together.
elevetha's review
4.0
There is absolutely no story in this book and, much like in [b:A Gaggle of Geese and a Clutter of Cats|1403196|A Gaggle of Geese and a Clutter of Cats|Dandi Daley Mackall|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320414286s/1403196.jpg|1393415], it somehow works. The illustrations are at once beautiful and slightly off-putting at the same time, but, in this case, it works because these are fantastic and/or fearsome fairytale beasts that are being portrayed. As for the collective nouns given to them, they were either spot-on or were too simple. A dignity of dragons was one of my favorites. As were a few others I need to reference the book for. A splash of mermaids was a little disappointing. The author also included a few pages explaining the creatures and their origins, which was nice, except that my copy was missing one of the pages with the really interesting creatures that I didn't know about.
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