In the second collaboration between Ward and Anderson (see The Tin Forest), George is a young boy whose vivid imagination allows him to see that which no one else can - that our world is full of dragons. They will explore how authors use description to enhance the information they present to readers and will include descriptive vocabulary in their own writing. The children are introduced to The Dragon Machine by Helen Ward and other well-known dragon stories, George and the Dragon by Chris Wormell, and The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch.

Children will memorise and perform this poem, describe objects to aliens using adjectives before finally writing their own alien poems. Of course, he has to give them up, and save them, but that leads to him being more noticed - either because his absence causes his parents to realize what they're missing (the literal reading), or because he simply grows up (a more metaphorical one). We will eventually be phasing out the plans, as we believe our flexible blocks offer you all of the same advantages and more. It was such a pleasure to meet you both, and I really appreciated how smoothly and professionally you ran everything.And George continues using his imagination when he notices something unusual about his dog - the dog's tail is a dragon's tail. He was bothered by the unrealistic design of the machine and by the fact that the boy seemed to have fallen from the sky without coming to any harm. Children between the ages 4-6 will enjoy finding the "ignored and overlooked" dragons cleverly illustrated in the pictures. Based on the lovely story Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French, children use conjunctions to expand sentences before writing their own recounts in a diary form about an English animal.

Helen Ward’s mature, illustrative text alongside the nostalgic, heart- wrenching pictures of Wayne Anderson, form a perfect, beautiful story. He packs ‘ delicious stale biscuits and smelly cheese and himself into the dragon machine’ and leads the dragons ‘ over the moonlit fields and woods‘ to their home. However, I ended up really enjoying this book because of the underlying message that I picked up from it: it's okay to be different and love other people because they are different.The Dragon Machine is reminiscent of Where the Wild Thing Are in the way that George feels ignored and unnoticed so he finds friendship with dragons and escapes in a dragon machine to "a great wilderness, ignored and overlooked. He builds a fantastic dragon shaped machine and leads the dragons home and then is found and taken home himself, no longer feeling invisible. Readers must look beyond the lack of warmth and affection that George experiences, to appreciate the power of a child's imagination that is the theme. The language was a bit difficult, but it was always possible to work out the meaning; I think it's good for children to be introduced to difficult words from a young age.