A Dignity of Dragons: Collective Nouns for Magical Beasts
Jacqueline Ogburn, illustrations by Nicoletta Ceccoli
HMH Books for Young Readers
Fiction, CH Fantasy/Picture Book
Themes: Avians, Bestiaries, Cryptids, Dragons, Equines, Gryphons, Water Monsters, Werebeasts
****
Description
Herds, flocks, and troops may be fine names for groups of mundane animals, but fantastical beasts require fantastical terms.
Review
We had a little down time at work again, so I read this while waiting for things to pick up. As the title promises, it's an imaginative take on descriptive collective nouns, positing such terms as a "dignity" of dragons, an "amazement" of minotaurs, a "chord" of sirens, and a "resurrection" of phoenix. The whimsical illustrations add a nice touch, with plenty of magical creatures from various cultures on each page, with sparse text to invite lingering over the images. At the end, a glossary adds brief notes about each beast in the book. It makes for a nice, easy introduction to many fantastic creatures and the notion of collective nouns, which are always a fun part of the language. (I will admit, though, that I'm old school enough to consider the definitive term for a group of dragons to be a "flight"...)