Dragons, Truth, Myth, Legn

Passes's roundup of 11 brief dragon tales spans many centuries and continents, beginning with a creation story recorded on clay tablets in Babylon some 4000 years ago. According to this legend, Tiamat, a female dragon who was ``the spirit of salt water and chaos,'' did battle with the powerful god Marduk, who split her body in half, shaping the heavens from one and the earth from the other, and making order from chaos. Some familiar heroes appear on these pages: Passes includes accounts of Hercules slaying the nine-headed Hydra; Beowulf as an old man staging his final fight, with the ``fearsome fire dragon''; and the most celebrated dragon-slayer of all, Saint George, whose conquest of the dragon symbolizes the triumph of Christianity over evil. Varied and intriguing as these tales are, their inherent drama is not well served by Passes's dry, distant narrative style. Though polished, Anderson's ( Ratsmagic ) elaborate, imposing renderings (both color and black-and-white) of fire-breathing dragons do not meet the high standards set by such related titles as Dragon Feathers (reviewed above). Ages 8-up. (Oct.)