HERB, THE VEGETARIAN DRAGON

Author: Jules Bass

Summary: Herb is the only vegetarian dragon in a land full of carnivores. He tends his garden while others of his species munch on the inhabitants of a nearby castle. Herb shows his fellow dragons and the people of the castle how they can live together in harmony.

WITS Connection: Talk it out, Seek help

WITS Lesson Plan (PDF)

Learning Outcomes

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Questions and Activities

PRE-READING QUESTIONS

  1. What kinds of words do we associate with dragons?
  2. Hold up the book and ask someone to read the name of the title. What is a vegetarian? Is Herb a suitable name for a dragon? What do dragons usually eat?
  3. What might be a problem in the story? Based on what you see on the cover what do you think the story is all about?

POST-READING QUESTIONS

  1. How was Herb different from the other dragons? He lived peacefully, alone, tended a garden, ate vegetables and did not eat the people of the castle.
  2. Why did the knights hold a meeting? They wanted to stop the dragons from eating their people.
  3. Why did Meathook ask Herb to eat wild boar meat before he would free him? He wanted Herb to be like them before he would help him.
  4. How did Nicole prove that Herb was different? She climbed up on his scales and head to prove that he wasn’t dangerous.
  5. Why did Meathook and the other dragons struggle with the choice not to eat the people of the castle? The dragons thought it may be a trick to ‘de-dragon’ them.
  6. If you’ve read the book Hooway for Wodney Wat with your students, compare Herb to Wodney. How was their problem similar? How did they handle their problem? How did both characters change?
  7. A line in the story states, “You can’t be different in the dragon world and survive.” Do you agree? Can people change?

POST-READING ACTIVITIES

  • Visit Dragon Herb to view activities you can use with this book.
  • Organize students in pairs and assign one to be the sculptor and the other to be the clay. Have the sculptors sculpt the clay into the shape of a dragon. The clay should do what the sculptor says or demonstrates. Ask students to describe what they have created, noting similarities and differences from other dragons, and then switch roles.