The Truth About Dragons

The Truth About Dragons is a picture book by Julie Leung, illustrated by Hanna Cha, that brings together dragon lore from two traditions. A mother tells her child a story about a journey through two forests. One is home to dragons from Western tales, and the other to dragons from East Asian mythology, each kind with its own nature and its own kind of wisdom. The two forests reflect the child's family, whose grandmothers come from different cultures and carry different stories, and the tale shows that both worlds belong to the child at once. Hanna Cha's richly colored paintings set the two realms side by side. The book is written for children about 4 to 8 years old and received a 2024 Caldecott Honor.