100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli

by David Larochelle (Author) Lian Cho (Illustrator)

Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

"A nonstop dragon party . . . Irresistible." —Publishers Weekly

This wacky counting adventure by Geisel Award-winning author David LaRochelle is a hilarious ode to dragons and math, with pitch-perfect art by Lian Cho.


High on a mountain live 100 mighty dragons all named Broccoli. When a tremendous wind blows half the dragons away, ten others sail off to become professional surfers in Hawaii. The oldest and youngest dragons take a train to New York City to start their own heavy metal band. And a mysterious wizard turns four more into a unicorn, a werewolf, a zombie, and a tiny pink poodle. Now how many dragons are left?

Young readers will delight in following each and every dragon as they leave their home for marvelous adventures, until there is but one dragon remaining. That's when this final dragon named Broccoli retreats to a cave for the winter and reappears in the spring with a surprise that will thrill and delight. Prepare to read again!

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Kirkus Reviews

This is one entertaining and silly way to do math.

Booklist

Colorful and countable . . . Humorous details throughout keep the math concepts lively.

Publishers Weekly

A refrain-like structure and boldfaced numerals chronicle a series of dragon subtractions and additions in this mathematical word problem turned picture book. After a "tremendous wind" whisks away the first 50 of 100 mighty dragons "all named Broccoli," LaRochelle (How to Apologize) reveals the fate of the remaining half: for starters, "10 dragons sailed away on a cruise ship and became professional surfers in Hawaii. This left...// 40 mighty dragons, all named Broccoli." The remaining creatures' adventures include rocking out as a New York heavy metal band, riding a scooter in Paris, rocketing to the moon, and playing for the Green Bay Packers. Freewheeling acrylic and colored pencil illustrations by Cho (It Began with Lemonade), which portray a wide diversity of dragon types and colors, render their arrayed fates in pages that evoke a nonstop dragon party. The migrations leave one lonely, red-horned dragon dwelling in the once-bustling mountain habitat, but not for long; when she eventually emerges as a mother of dragons, a final spread reveals monikers for the 100 new youths. Comically specific outcomes and locale shout-outs make a close look of this bustling read irresistible. Human characters are portrayed with varied skin tones. Ages 3-7. (Apr.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

*An Indie Next Pick*
*A Smithsonian Magazine Best Book of the Year*
*A School Library Journal/Fuse #8 Best Math Book of the Year*


"You can call this a counting book. You can call it a math book. I call it a hilarious, charming and extremely silly book. . . . Once again, Geisel Award winner David LaRochelle [gives] us a wacky, thoroughly original story . . . A great addition to any child's bookshelf." —The Minneapolis StarTribune

"You have never seen a counting book quite like this, because there has never been a counting book quite like this. . . . David LaRochelle has crafted a book so clever, so utterly silly and absurd, so delightful and so engagingand has been so well abetted by illustrator Lian Chothat kids and adults alike [will] read and reread and delight in the whole thing . . . [The title concept] makes for an eventual twist ending that readers will not see coming and that gives Cho an opportunity to display amazing illustrative virtuosity." —InfoDad.com

David Larochelle
David LaRochelle is the author of many books for children including How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans, The Best Pet of All, and The Haunted Hamburger and Other Ghostly Stories. David lives in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Lian Cho has created artwork for Sesame Workshop and the New Yorker, and illustrated several critically acclaimed picture books, including It Began with Lemonade and The Oboe Goes Boom Boom Boom. Lian grew up in Taiwan and New Zealand, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City, is a Society of Illustrators Student Competition Finalist, and received the Rhodes Family Award for Achievement in Illustration.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780525555445
Lexile Measure
600
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Dial Books
Publication date
April 20, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV009030 - Juvenile Fiction | Concepts | Counting & Numbers
JUV002270 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Dragons, Unicorns & Mythical
Library of Congress categories
-

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