#65 in Children’s books
My Father's Dragon
- 80
- Pages
- about 1.5 h
- Reading time
- Film 2022 +1
- On screen
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Our view
“My Father’s Dragon” is a charming little adventure about a boy who meets a host of curious creatures. Elmer slips off to Wild Island to free a baby dragon, and the tale is narrated by his own child, like a family legend handed down. Some readers single out Ruth Chrisman Gannett’s illustrations; others mention children asking for the next chapter at once. At eighty pages, it is made for bedtime reading.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
My Father's Dragon is a 1948 children's novel by Ruth Stiles Gannett, with illustrations by her stepmother Ruth Chrisman Gannett. The novel is about a young boy, Elmer, who runs away to Wild Island to rescue a baby dragon.
Reading order · My Father's Dragon trilogy
Full order & progress →- My Father's DragonThis book
8.08.0 / 10 - Elmer and the Dragon
–Not ranked yet - The Dragons of Blueland
–Not ranked yet
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 2 times — from 1997 to 2022.
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 63 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 30% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Children’s books average of 7.9. That is how 8.0 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.0 | 8 | 13% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 55 | 87% |
Frequently asked
What age is My Father's Dragon for?
My Father's Dragon sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 80 pages — shorter than 99% of the ranked books in Children’s books.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Children’s books — with scores between 7.8 and 8.2, closest to this book.
