Guest Blog: John Condon
Author of We Are Dragons
Why a Dose of Chaos and Mayhem Keeps Picture Book Readers Engaged
The Chaos in My Living Room
I have a front row seat to chaos most days.
My son can walk into a perfectly calm room and, within minutes, transform it into something that looks, from the outside, like the aftermath of a small but determined natural disaster. Especially if he has a friend or two around to play. Cushions get redistributed or repurposed. Characters are created. Sound effects are provided. Rules become entirely optional.
But plenty of fun is had.
The chaos is the whole point, and it’s a fundamental part of his personality. Or, the ongoing development of it.
I thought about this a lot as I was writing We Are Dragons.
Calm Is Not the Only Option
I used to think of picture books as things that should soothe. Wind the day down. Ready a child for sleep or calm. And there is absolutely a place for that kind of book.
But there is also a place for the other kind of story. The loud kind. The kind where things go spectacularly and chaotically wrong and everybody laughs until their belly hurts, with no lesson being learned.
I wasn’t trying to teach the dragons anything in this story. They told me, pretty early in the process, that they were up for fun and adventure and then they took me along for the ride. Just as my son would often do. So I jumped aboard.
The Power of the Belly Laugh
When a child is laughing at a picture book, they aren’t thinking about whether reading is hard. They aren’t wondering if they’re doing it right. They are just in the story. Certainly, this has been the case for my son, who I have read to every day since his birth (and even before that). I’ve read him all kinds of stories, and I have witnessed firsthand how he responds to different types of stories and how he engages with them.
I have seen how chaotic, joyful, anarchic stories can reach him in a way that quieter books sometimes don’t. Humour and mayhem speak to him and draw him in. It makes the page feel like somewhere he wants to be. Like somewhere he recognises.
Children Recognise Themselves in the Chaos
There’s also something deeply relatable about a story where things go gloriously wrong. Children respond to it instinctively because they know it. They’ve been there. The dragons in We Are Dragons aren’t misbehaving in a calculated way. They’re just fully alive, fully in the moment, doing what comes naturally. Making mistakes and moving on. And most importantly, enjoying life.
Every child who has ever been told to sit still or use their quiet voice will recognise that feeling immediately. They will see themselves in those pages. And when children see themselves in books, something clicks.
A Shared Experience
When a parent or teacher reads a chaotic picture book aloud and includes all of the sound effects and the voices, something else happens too. Everyone in the room laughs at the same moment. Everyone points at the same picture. That’s a memory being made. A bond is being formed between a child and the idea that books are a place where good things happen. Where you aren’t being taught a lesson, where you are just allowed to continue being you and enjoying life.
So the next time a picture book causes a bit of a ruckus in your classroom, take it as a very good sign indeed.
We Are Dragons is available now from Amazon or Bookshop.
Thank you to John for visiting the BooksForTopics blog this week to discuss the place of mayhem in picturebooks.
Readers may also be interested in the following booklists:
- Recommended Reads for Year 1
- Funny Books for Children
- Fairy Tale Themed Books for Children
- KS1 Picturebooks
- Books for Fans of Bunny vs Monkey
- Children’s books about dragons
- National Year of Reading Booklist
Browse our curriculum topic booklists for more inspiration.
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub
> Browse our Topic Booklists
> View our printable year group booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.