AustLit

A gentle story told in the style of an ancient folktale, which highlights the importance of dreams, storytelling and striving for peace.

This short story is from the collection Emu Stew: An Illustrated Collection of Stories and Poems for Children edited by Patricia Wrightson in 1976. A pomelo is a citrus fruit native to South East Asian regions and once was believed to be a safeguard against dragons. Ming, as owner of a pomelo tree, was much in demand; yet there is some irony here as the dragons of the East were believed to be benevolent dragons.

This picture book for the young brings together mythical creatures from two cultures: the dragon from China and the bunyip from Australia. What other mythical creatures do these countries share?

A light-hearted look at the discovery of dragons accompanied by some spectacular illustrations and letters of suspect origin.

This story seems to be a variation on the 'invisible friend' theme. Yin, who is an only child, has a pet dragon in the garden that no one else knows about. When Yin's grandmother Po Po has to leave, the dragon also disappears. Yin is most unhappy until the family issues are sorted and both Po Po and Dragon return.

There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies; and the Eastern or Chinese dragon with counterparts in Japan, Korea, and other Eastern Asian countries such as Vietnam. European dragons are generally malevolent while the Chinese dragon, as is evident from this text, is more often benevolent.

This is the sequel to the book Kumiko and the Dragon. In recent times dragons have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity due, in part, to a spate of fantasy novels such as these Kumiko texts which are based on ancient stories and mythologies surrounding dragons.

This is the first book in the Dragonkeeper trilogy by Carole Wilkinson. It is the story of a young slave girl who does not believe she is worthy of a name but discovers the strength and courage required to undertake a dangerous journey.

This is the second book of the Dragonkeeper trilogy. In this book Ping is entrusted with the care of a baby dragon, Kai, son of Danzi from the first book. This task entails a lot of responsibility for Ping but also provides many lighthearted moments as well.

In this final book of the Dragonkeeper trilogy Ping and Kai continue their journey across China in search of the safe haven for Kai that Danzi has decribed in a cryptic message. Ping has to unravel the clues provided and find a sanctuary for Kai, possibly the last dragon.

A collection of dragon stories from around the world and thoughout time collated by Carole Wilkinson, the author of the Dragonkeeper trilogy. As well as the dragon legends and tales it contains maps, colourful illustrations, a glossary and references used in compiling this collection. A useful starting point on all things 'dragon'.

Given the beliefs relating to the phoenix in Chinese mythology referred to above the phoenix, in this story, can be seen as a powerful and symbolic companion for Bawshou on his quest.

The phoenix is another of the mythical creatures of Asia that is also shared by other cultures around the world. It is said to be reincarnated by rising from the ashes of its burnt body. This story is set in the Middle-East and Australia.

This book, which has characteristics of both graphic novels and comic books, uses the multicultural town of Broome, Western Australia as a setting for a story which draws on both Aboriginal and Chinese mythologies. The action unleashes the phoenix dragon from Chinese mythology and the sandpaper dragon of Aboriginal legends.

This is another mermaid Dreaming story. It may seem surprising that the Aboriginal peoples of inland Australia have mermaid dreaming stories but, just as other countries in the world have stories of inland mermaids, so, too, do the Aboriginal peoples. In fact, mermaids were said to occupy lots of different waterways, even waterholes in oases in the middle of the desert.

In this book the people of the Wugularr community in the Northern Territory share one of their traditional stories, The Mermaid and the Serpent. It tells the story of how two mermaids came to live in the big waterhole at the base of Wurreiluk or Beswick Falls. The mermaids can be heard talking and laughing when it is really quiet. These mermaids have the power of the Baby Dreaming law. This means that if a woman swims in the waterhole she might get pregnant. The story is also recounted in the Dalabon language and there is a glossary at the back of the book.

This text catalogues an amazing array of different mermaids and mermen that are rumoured to have inhabited the waterways of the world. It details documented sightings of mermaids and relates a number of incidents involving deliberate "fakes". It contains serious mythologies and light-hearted commentaries as well as detailed illustrations of what particular mermaids might have looked like.