Geoffrey Hayes – författare

"Punchy dialogue and compact sentences should make this a read-aloud delight."—Publishers Weekly

"Part-slapstick, part-fairy tale, the gently humorous plot has enough twists and turns to keep newly independent readers engaged."—School Library Journal

Fred the dragon has a list of tasks he must complete in order to be a successful dragon—none of which comes naturally. But he''s determined to make #5—eat people—work. Before you can say "pass the salt" he''s gobbled up three people even though he doesn''t have the stomach for it. Luckily a local shepherd, with the help of a giant and a witch, knows how to cure what ails him and get those pesky people out of his belly. It''s happily-ever-after for everyone in ways you''d never expect.Geisel award-winning author/illustrator Geoffrey Hayes is a stepped reader maestro. The common threads between his wildly popular Uncle Tooth and Otto SIRs and the more recent Benny and Penny series (Toon Books) are clear and constant. The art is adorable, the characters are bursting with personality, and the stories are humorously subversive. From marauding pirates to misbehaving mice to a dragon who swallows people whole (and then continues to communicate with them in his belly!), Geoffrey always hits that sweet spot for the stepped reader audience—easy to decode, illustrative tales that tickle the funnybone.

In 1943, General Harry Crerar penned a memorandum in which he noted that there was still much confusion as to "what constitutes an 'Officer.'" His words reflected the army's preoccupation with creating an ideal officer who would not only meet the immediate demands of war but also be able to conform to notions of social class and masculinity.

Drawing on a wide range of sources and exploring the issue of leadership through new lenses, this book looks at how the army selected and trained its junior officers after 1939 to embody the new ideal. It finds that these young men – through the mentors they copied, the correspondence they left, even the songs they sang – practised a "temperate heroism" that distinguished them from the idealized, heroic visions of officership from the First World War.

Fascinating and highly original, this book sheds new light on the challenges many junior officers faced during the Second World War – not only on the battlefield but from Canadians' often conflicted views about social class and gender.