TV Interview December 31, 2021 New Year’s Edition on Culturescope.eu, Season 2 Episode 8 (S2 E8) at 1:16:01 hrs

Delightful dragons lead the way through this diverse, rhyming children’s book to overcome childhood fears

Audio, ebook and hardback formats in English, French and Greek, bring to life the tale of an outcast dragon who overcomes childhood fears, bravely lulling a pair of scary babies to sleep with his magical sand. The “boring Tan Dragon” wins the respect of his colorful peers when he faces his fear and realizes his special gift. Brilliant, often abstract, paintings by Stephan Theo and Nicole Theo illustrate this enchanting rhyme-Stephan Theo from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television voice acts the audio book, to singer-songwriter Nicole Theo’s guitar accompaniment. The dragons in this bedtime story frolic to poetry, while delighting, empowering and motivating. Kids will love the award-winning author’s charming tale of a rainbow of silly dragon friends pulling together and overcoming their fear of the littlest humans. “It gives a different perspective,” says Stephan Theo, who sees “the simple complexity of everything as mind-opening: the more options someone has, the more perspectives, the more choices they will feel ― they will feel free!” With an activity at the back of the book, Tuck-a-tuck Dragon teaches: facing fear to find unique virtues; diversity; colors; reading words finishing rhymes; counting.

More reviews

“I enjoyed the story in this book. Each of the dragons is a unique colour and they all enjoy having fun and playing games together. I love how some of the dragons are described like the white dragon being made of cloud. While the dragons all enjoy their games they are annoyed when Tan dragon, who is late, arrives. The way the dragons think of and treat Tan Dragon is reminiscent of how some children can be treated unfairly among their peers, but I like what happens in this story and how later, Tan Dragon essentially ‘saves the day’ for all of the other dragons…. There is a good rhyming pattern throughout the story, and I like how this book sounds when heard as an audiobook. I was lucky enough to have access to both a digital copy and to hear an excerpt of the audiobook which features some nice music, mainly some nice and subtle guitar music playing throughout in between the narrator’s sentences…. I love some of these illustrations especially when you can see the dragons like the cloud white dragon in the sky and the others flying in the sky together. All of the illustrations have a quality that make them look a bit like children’s paintings which I actually love…”

― The Strawberry Post

Excerpt of Tuck-a-tuck Dragon

One blustery autumn, three dragons came out
To romp, stomp and tumble and frolic about.
On their way to a sleepover party they flew,
Big Red Dragon, Pink, and Small Green Dragon, too.

Toward Sun Yellow’s huge house, three dragons did fly,
Where they saw seven more dragons mount to the sky!
Old Blue came, and White, made out of cloud,
With a mountain of Purple, who rumbled out loud.

They found the right house, dropped their bags by the wall,
Then started the games for one dragon and all.
The Grey Dragon soared, with his wings full of rain!
And everyone played, until Tan Dragon came.

The last picked for teams, in the game Knights and Knaves,
He was last up the hill, fast asleep in the caves.
They would not let him in, till the rain started pouring,
And said, “There was never ever a dragon so boring.”

Now, to play, play, and play was just never enough,
But without any sleep, it was ever so tough,
So they rolled out their bags, and got in them, each one,
Telling stories to frighten each other for fun…FOR MORE, REQUEST YOUR REVIEW COPY

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“This delightful, almost seven-minute audiobook relates an imaginative story adapted from a picture book tale. The story’s colorful young dragons play, then settle down to tell scary stories before sleep, but cannot fall asleep because they are afraid of humans, especially babies. It takes the most boring dragon of all, the tan dragon, to venture into the babies’ room and put them to sleep. The Spanish-accented narration done by the illustrator is heartfelt and vibrant. The story sounds like a father telling his child a favorite bedtime story. The performance has a lot of heart, enthusiasm, emotion, and drama. The story is told in verse with voice quality, pacing, and drama to delight toddlers and preschoolers. The production is free of edits and technical flaws. The introduction was simple, naming only the title and the narrator. The story is told in verse, with simple guitar music as transitions between verses/pages. Short, simple sound effects of babies crying and a music box playing are added at appropriate places…. The title, Tuck a Tuck Dragon, refers to a well-performed dramatic point in the story that will delight young listeners. The cover art shows a dragon settling down to sleep outside and reflects a scene from the story. This tale about young, colorful dragons is beautifully told in short verse and vibrant language. The original picture book story has well developed language and pacing that adapts well as an audiobook.”

—Independent Book Publishers Association