Book Review: The Bakery Dragon

The Bakery Dragon is a children’s fantasy book written and illustrated by Devin Elle Kurtz. It was published in 2024 by Alfred A. Knopf (Penguin Random House is the parent company).

The story is about a little dragon named Ember who, like all dragons, loves gold more than anything. Problem is, he doesn’t have a hoard of gold like the other dragons (who are much bigger and intimidating than him). While the bigger dragons can spew out fire and scare people into giving them gold, Ember can only spew out a small flame and cannot scare villagers into giving him anything. In his search for gold, he comes across a kind baker who teaches him how to bake tasty “gold,” and he learns that this tasty gold is even better when it is shared.

I enjoyed the story, as well as the moral about sharing with others is much better than stealing and hoarding. The writing is good, but since this is a children’s book, I feel the biggest strength is the illustrations. The illustrations are beautiful, and Devin Elle Kurtz is truly a talented artist.

I also like how the characters’ dialogue is presented in text bubbles. I think that’s kind of cute, and it reminds me of comics.

Penguin Random House’s age range for this book is 4-8, so if you have a child who loves dragons and cozy fantasy stories, I definitely recommend this book. However, even if you are an adult, I would recommend this story to anyone who likes short, sweet, and wonderfully illustrated tales about dragons and who enjoy cozy fantasy books.