Dragon Folding

By Christopher Cheng and Lucia Masciullo

Reviewed by Lara Cain Gray

Dragon Folding is a quiet picture book about community support and intergenerational learning. It sees both Christopher Cheng and Lucia Masciullo, who last worked together on The Imagineer (2022), playing to their strengths – touching, character-driven storytelling with detailed, cleverly designed spreads. Themes include grief and loss, ageing and depression, but the focus on creativity as a support tool makes this visually interesting and gentle enough for very young readers.

Mr and Mrs Singer live in a property known to locals as Dragon House, and Evan likes to visit. Mrs Singer is an artist and Mr Singer bakes lovely cakes. Their house is full of colour with dragon-themed ornaments all around. The local children enjoy climbing their enticing dragon tree. But when Mrs Singer ‘goes away’, Mr Singer changes. He is grumpy and crotchety. The colour has drained from his world – figuratively, and literally in the book’s artwork. Across each spread, Mr Singer and his home become grey while the rest of the neighbourhood retains its colour. The many dragons begin to droop and shatter. Though the neighbours pull together to help with cleaning, groceries and gardening, Mr Singer’s mood does not improve. Eventually, Evan arrives with some coloured paper and a plan to engage Mr Singer in making paper dragons, and the colour slowly returns to Dragon House.

This storyline is something of a trope in children’s writing – the renewal found in paying attention to the little things, especially when presented by an innocent child who doesn’t fear or avoid a grieving older person in the way hesitant or polite adults might do. The visual elements freshen this story, though, with sweeping, flying dragons carrying the reader’s eye around the spreads in unusual ways. The different types of dragons depicted (perhaps different cultural representations?) make an appealing spotting game for readers. The depictions of community are contemporary, diverse and relatable, which may encourage a young reader (or their parents) towards engaging with neighbours. And there is a natural extension activity to be found in trying out origami.

Puffin 2024

Christopher Cheng

Lucia Masciullo

Lara Cain Gray is the author of the recently published The Grown-Ups Guide to Picture Books