Maggie the Dragon: Chase Your Dreams

By Tony Armstrong & Emma Sjaan Beuker

Reviewed by Lara Cain Gray

In the same colourful creative universe as 2024’s George the Wizard, Maggie the Dragon is a tale of self belief and acceptance from popular TV personality Tony Armstrong and illustrator Emma Sjaan Beukers. Dragons are a perennially popular choice for a central character, and this book extends the story of George and his best friend Harriet, too.

Maggie is a fantastic flyer. Not only can she fly, but she can loop-de-loop, dive and barrel roll. This is handy because dragons are in charge of keeping the magical kingdom safe and Maggie’s special job is to patrol its faraway edges. Maggie is a gentle soul, but she knows how to use her fire when she needs to, to shoo away any potential invaders. When a storm threatens the kingdom, Maggie needs to move from the perimeter into the villages to warn people. She gets a bit worried and over excited. And when Maggie feels worried, she gets the hiccups. Fiery hiccups! If she breathes fire inside the kingdom, everyone will be scared of her. Her friends George and Harriet need to help her stop the hiccups so she can protect – not terrify – the villagers.

This is a conventional arc, but delivered via a fresh-feeling cast of endearing characters. The bold illustration style captures the magical hues of the crystalline mountains and sparkling wizardry, and the language is clear and straightforward to read. The layout brings these two factors together in a way that’s perfect for emerging readers, with illustrations and words closely matched, and keywords (blast, proud, storm) popping out of the text boxes for emphasis. Although this is a picture book, the layout and typefaces creatively lean into a comic book style, including a lot of dialogue and changes in spread dynamics from wide shots to close ups.

This is a fun, colourful story about acceptance. It’s very commercial, but deftly avoids being a ‘girl book’ or a ‘boy book’ with its dynamic mix of humans, wizards, dragons and many other intermingled creatures. Both creators identify as Indigenous, and one interesting use of this book in classrooms might be to discuss it within sharing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives: challenging some people’s understandings of what stereotypical ‘Aboriginal art’ should look like, for example, with its psychedelic fantasy energy.

Lothian Children’s Books 2025

Note: Tony Armstrong doesn’t appear to have his own webpage, but there’s an author section on the Hachette page here: Tony Armstrong Books – Hachette Australia

Emma Sjaan Beukers