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Fergal is Fuming! ISBN: 9781783445332
Starling, Robert
Published by Andersen Press, 2017
When a dragon gets angry, it is not good news, and Fergal fumes rather too easily. 'He's a friendly little fellow' we are told, and rather lovable with it, but his anger management issues lead him into all sorts of 'fiery' situations. 'It's not fair', he says. First he melts his greens because he doesn't want to eat them; this means he doesn't get any pudding. When coach tells him he must be in goal, he melts the goal posts, and ends the football rather dramatically. He burns up the buns in the shop because he's told he must wait until they are cool before he can have one, and his anger means he misses out on all sorts of other good times too. His friends are very cross and don't want to have any thing to do with him, so he goes to mum. She explains that some of the things he has done to make his friends unhappy are not fair either, and that while everyone gets angry sometimes, one must learn control. She says counting to ten can be a good idea, so Fergal tries it and discovers it can work. Then he finds that his animal friends have all sorts of ways of cooling down their hot feelings - Crow tells his friends, Wolf finds a quiet spot and makes loud noises, Cat has a good stretch, and the Hare runs about so much anyway that he never feels angry. Controlling anger means that Fergal has more time to do things he really enjoys. The illustrations are fantastic - full of movement and colour and integrated text that is particularly effective when Fergal is having one of his fiery episodes. Huge fun and a great moral story without seeming moral at all.
Age: 3+