My Father’s Dragon and Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles GannettScholastic (originally Random House, 1948 and 1950)

These two short books, both illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett (the author’s stepmother) are so wonderful and charming. In the first, young Elmer Elevator runs away from home to free a young dragon from wild animals who are keeping him captive. In the second, Elmer and the dragon head back towards the town where Elmer lives, but are sidetracked along the way. The details are just so sweet and perfect: the dragon thinks about going home to see “his gigantic mother and father,” and when Elmer offers four pink lollipops to the dragon, he asks, “Would you like all four at once?” (the answer, of course, is yes). The illustrations are wonderful, too: the dragon, with his stripes and his horn, is so friendly and happy-looking; the last drawings, of Elmer’s parents and their living room, with teapot and teacups laid out on the table for Elmer’s father’s birthday, seem old-fashioned but warm rather than stiff.