Questions for understanding—

1. How is Cedric different from his brothers and sisters?

2. Why does the king want Cedric to go to Dragon-Slaying School?

3. Why do you think that Nanny and the Queen say that Cedric is not suited for Dragon-

    Slaying School?

4. Why does Cedric hug the dragon?

5. What happens after the hug?

Questions to extend the story –

1. If you could be one character in the story, which one would you be? Why?

2. What do you think will happen in the future? Can you imagine ways that the kingdom  will change because Cedric hugged the dragon?

3. For Cedric’s brother and sisters, the dragon is the most frightening thing in their lives.

   We don’t worry about dragons today, but what is there that frightens boys and girls

   today? [Create a list.] Would a hug help? Why or why not? If not, talk about other ways

   to deal with scary problems.

4. Cedric surprised everyone by saving the kingdom with a hug. Sometimes people

   surprise us. Can you think of a time when someone surprised you by showing kindness 

   or a special talent or skill?

5. Sometimes people judge us unfairly. Has that ever happened to you? Explain.

Activities

1. Print out the dragon coloring sheet on this webpage and distribute to children for an

    easy, fun activity suited to younger students.

2. Show students a variety of dragon pictures from other books and ask them to compare

   the ways in which different illustrators have portrayed dragons.

a. Which ones are the scariest? Why?

b. Which ones look fierce? Which look friendly? How can you explain the differences? Consider the artist’s use of a particular medium, style, or color. For example, in Cedric and the Dragon, illustrator Nina Crittenden used ink and water colors in pastel tones to create a whimsical dragon.

c. If you could put one up on your bedroom wall, which one would you choose. Why? (This can be done as a group discussion or a simple writing assignment.)

3. Ask students to draw their own dragons.

4. Writers use words to create pictures. Have each student write a paragraph describing a dragon. Remind the to use words that describe the dragon’s color, size, and features. You might post the paragraphs or have each student read the description aloud while others close their eyes and try to picture the dragon.

5.  Write the names of several characters on the board and ask students to brainstorm adjectives to describe the character:

CedricNannyKingQueenDragon

Write down all the words that they suggest. When everyone has made a suggestion, cross out duplicates and eliminate fuzzy adjectives (words like nice or good that don’t convey significant meaning). When done, students will have creates a list of precise descriptive words to describe the main characters.

Extend this activity by asking each student to choose one word that describes him or herself and write a paragraph giving examples of when they acted in that way [brave, kind, fierce, etc].