Dragon’s First Taco

Having irrefutably established that Dragons Love Tacos, Rubin and Salmieri offer a taco-shaped board book to welcome youngest dragons to the gustatory club. On page one, an adorable blue dragon with black horns and googly eyes encounters a drawing of the titular food in a frame worthy of a royal portrait. “Do you know what this is? It’s called a taco. You are gonna love it,” enthuses the narrator. Suggesting that they make a taco together, the voice next introduces the essential tortilla, which hangs above the little dragon, emanating sun-like rays. Once folded (a move that the dragon regards with professorial scrutiny), “whatever we tuck inside magically turns into a taco!” The dragon next takes to the sky and floats among possible ingredients, and then comes the best part: eating a tasty, dragon-size morsel that’s stuffed with goodness, then savoring its taste in a dreamy-eyed, full-stomach afterglow. Now the little dragon imagines variations, shown in sketchlike images that depict tacos as comprising a birthday cake, a car, headphones, a leashed pet (tacocat?), and more—grandly suggesting a whole world of applications for the much-beloved food. Ages 1–3. (Sept.)