Max is the youngest brother and as usual, the brunt of all jokes. When he shows up in the middle of his brothers’ croquet game, trailing an imaginary cloud dragon and rhyming his words to produce a rainstorm, his brothers hoot. But Max has the last laugh when everyone takes shelter from the dragon’s storm—under his umbrella. Kulikov’s children are real kids, messy hair, dirty fingernails, Crocs and all. Mix in dragons, dinosaurs, cloud figures, and silly rhymes, and what do you get? Max’s Dragon combines all these ele ments to create a satisfying portion of imaginative play and a healthy dose of wish fulfillment . lmp