My Father's Dragon

The novel embodies the trope of a stranger coming to town, in this case, Elmer coming to Wild Island. Like Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey, another stranger coming to town narrative, Elmer meets dangerous creatures. As he struggles with the natural difficulties of the island and braves the deadly challenges posed by the animals, Elmer continues to show his courage, resourcefulness, optimism, and social sensitivity.

Gannett mitigates the threat in each of Elmer’s animal encounters with childlike humor. Elmer uses his seemingly absurd supplies to help each animal—and escape danger. Chrisman Gannett’s illustrations detail the comical results.

Elmer begins the most dangerous part of his adventure as he leaves the beach and enters the jungle. Gannet’s descriptions of the dense, oppressive landscape increase feelings of anxiety for Elmer. The jungle poses physical hazards. Elmer stumbles, is snagged by the trees and leaves, and nearly loses his rubber boots in the thick mud. This evokes The Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy, a stranger, comes to town, or Oz, navigates a treacherous terrain. And like Dorothy, Elmer wins over talking animals.

Elmer’s struggle reveals his grit and perseverance: Quitting is not an option, no matter how difficult the physical challenge. Elmer shows his resourcefulness by pivoting when the muddy riverbank proves impassable. He adapts, optimistically implementing a secondary plan, by moving away from the riverbank, and using his compass to establish a new route.

Each of the wild animals Elmer faces threatens his life: The tigers and lion want to eat him, the rhinoceros wants to drown him, and the gorilla wants to twist his arms until he talks—a form of physical interrogation. Rather than respond with violence, Elmer displays sensitivity toward each of the animals’ very human foibles, such as the rhinoceros’s insecurity and the lion’s mother issues. Elmer is clever, exploiting the animals’ weaknesses while giving them what they want and need.

Gannett uses anthropomorphism by giving the animals human qualities. She may have aimed to make the animals more relatable, as readers have likely experienced similar emotions: the tiger’s greed, the rhinoceros’s negative self-image, the lion’s worry about his mother’s criticism, and the gorilla’s itchiness and physical discomfort.

Elmer does not ask for anything from the animals—other than for Rhinoceros to set him down. Instead, Elmer politely listens to the animals talk, solves their problems, and uses the resulting opportunity to slip away. Elmer’s advance preparation with the cat equips him for each encounter. The chewing gum and multiple magnifying glasses satisfy the tigers and gorilla. The comb, hairbrush, toothbrush, and toothpaste—which may have been intended for Elmer’s use—help the frustrated lion and sad rhinoceros. Elmer not only gives Lion and Rhinoceros tools to solve their problem; he also teaches them to use these tools, empowering them to help themselves. Gorilla’s dominant attitude toward the female monkeys has a whiff of sexism. By giving the monkeys the magnifying glasses, Elmer gives them an advantage over Gorilla, as Gorilla is now dependent on the monkeys for finding his fleas.

Each animal has a childlike quality, especially Lion. As Lion berates himself, he sounds much like a kid, lamenting the consequences of doing something he knows he should not have done and that will get him in trouble with his mother. Gannett’s illustrations capture both the animals’ wild, threatening sides and their vulnerable, human qualities. Illustrations that a young reader may find frightening, like the hungry tigers or Rhinoceros tossing Elmer in the air, are followed by a humorous picture showing the animals using their gifts from Elmer, such as the tigers happily chewing gum and Rhinoceros using the toothbrush on his horn. These illustrations remove threats with silliness.

The two wild boars prove to be more quick-witted and less distractable than the other animals, and Elmer works to avoid them. The boars initially dismiss the idea of an invasion but continue to piece evidence together and quickly realize there is a trespasser, whom they are determined to root out. They are protective and dislike the “invasion” which they see as a threat and disruption of the status quo. Elmer has no simple tricks in his knapsack to fool the boars with their more adult sensibility, creating tension. The boars’ intelligence foreshadows how they will uncover Elmer’s plan to take the dragon.