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
- What kinds of words do we associate with dragons?
- 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?
- 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
- 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.
- Why did the knights hold a meeting? They wanted to stop the dragons from eating their people.
- 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.
- How did Nicole prove that Herb was different? She climbed up on his scales and head to prove that he wasn’t dangerous.
- 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.
- 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?
- 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.