A sweet & virtuous tale about a soft-hearted dragon discovering true strength in the face of war
Weepy is bigger now. Stronger than he was years ago when he saved his village from a great fire. He’s treated as a hero with a statue immortalizing his greatest moment—but truth is, he didn’t know he would save the village when he did. All he did back then was let himself feel—and cry. His tears doused the flames, and the village labeled him a hero.
Now he’s twelve, and an enemy is invading his village with fiery arrows. The villagers look to Weepy for help, but they’re not the only ones looking at him. So is the enemy commander, trying to feel out what the dragon is capable of and how to rile him up in order to defeat him.
It’ll take great restraint and support from those who love and support him for Weepy to protect his village, to stay true to his soft-hearted nature, and to stand tall against these adversaries.
“Standing tall doesn’t always mean striking first… Sometimes it means letting the other side see that their tricks don’t move you. That you won’t dance to their tune.”
Weepy the Dragon: Standing Tall is a swiftly moving, values-driven novel for middle schoolers to explore how standing up to bullies doesn’t always mean fighting back. It’s a story of how bullies operate—what they want you to do and why they want you to do it—and what you can do to come out stronger on the other side. Author JJ Hebert makes this theme crystal clear and altogether possible for young readers. It’s an accessible, relatable idea that parents and teachers will love talking about in class and at home.
The prose is sharp and quite lovely too. “The day stretched on longer than Weepy thought a day could, like taffy pulled thin and endless.” The dialogue is natural and resonant with Elin (Weepy’s best human friend) and meaningful when the villagers shout to him how they need his help. They want Weepy to pounce—to stop this deluge immediately before someone gets hurt or worse. Weepy feels pressured to stand up to these foes both for the safety of his village and because he wants to live up to his previously heroic actions.
There’s a lot at stake here, and Weepy is such a terrific lead for it. Not because he’s strong and smart—though he is—but because he’s emotional and soft. If there wasn’t real danger, you’d likely catch Weepy overlooking the village on the perch of a building with his best friend, thinking back on what he’s done and hoping for calmness in the future. This is a book for that soft-spoken boy who doesn’t want to fight but gets looped in on the action anyway.
It’s useful how often the themes are discussed in this book. It makes the moral of the story that much clearer, but the discussions on the same topic can get a bit repetitive over time. The actions from chapter to chapter are similar, but luckily, the book is so short and fast-moving that we don’t overdo it for too long.
All I’m hoping for is that Hebert’s got more Weepy the Dragon in the stable for us. This warmhearted, powerful hero is a wonderful character to follow. Sweet kids will flock to this kindhearted dragon as they learn to believe in themselves and find out what it takes to be true and strong at the same time.
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