• Skip navigation and go to content
  • Go to navigation

Norman Rockwell Museum

  • Visit
    • Hours & Admission
    • Directions
    • Exhibitions
  • Learn
    • Programs
    • School Programs
    • Curriculum Lab
  • Research
    • Norman Rockwell Collection
    • Archives and Library
    • Rockwell Center for Americal Visual Studies
    • IllustrationHistory.org
    • Frank Schoonover Collection Raisonné
  • Donate
    • Make a Gift
    • Become a Member
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Contact
    • Staff Directory
    • Norman Rockwell Museum e-newsletter sign-up
    • Careers
    • What's my Rockwell Worth?
      FAQ

Illustration History

  • History
  • Artists
  • Genres
  • Essays
  • Resources
  • Podcast
  • History
    • Time Periods
  • Artists
  • Genres
  • Essays
  • Resources
  • Podcast
Home > Illustrations > Dust jacket for "Kenny & the Dragon"

Dust jacket for “Kenny & the Dragon”

By Tony DiTerlizzi | Created: 2007

Dust jacket for “Kenny & the Dragon”
Publication
  • Kenny & the Dragon
Publication Date
  • 2008
Medium
  • Acryla gouache
Support
  • Bristol board
Illustration Size
  • 23 x 16 in.
Collection
  • Tony DiTerlizzi

©Tony DiTerlizzi

Coming down from the high achieved by the phenomenal success of The Spiderwick Chronicles (2003), Tony DiTerlizzi created a silly alphabet book, G is for One Gzonk!, before turning to a book he loved reading as a child. Released in 2008, Kenny & the Dragon is DiTerlizzi’s retelling of Kenneth Grahame’s 1898 book The Reluctant Dragon. DiTerlizzi recalls reading a copy of Grahame’s book which was illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard, who also illustrated Grahame’s classic The Wind in the Willows (1908) for the 1931 edition.

Kenny shares many similarities with DiTerlizzi — the misfit who loves fairy tales and natural history and possesses a wild imagination. In the book, Kenny (a bunny) discovers an enormous dragon, Grahame (both characters are named after the author of the original book), on his family’s property. In order to learn more about the dragon, Kenny consults a borrowed book titled The King’s Royal Bestiary.

After identifying some inaccuracies within the book, Grahame suggests that Kenny will go on to write his own book someday, a nod to DiTerlizzi’s own bestiary, Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. (Saint) George, the local bookseller, is ordered by the king, and encouraged by the townspeople, to slay the dragon, but Kenny devises a plan which will satisfy all sides. Kenny & the Dragon not only became an instant bestseller, but continues to be celebrated in schools across the country in “one-book-one-school” programs.

Genres
  • Books
  • Cover Art
  • Interior Illustration
  • Fantasy
  • Archaeological
  • Courtroom Drawings
Global Perspectives
  • North America
Related Time Periods
  • The Decade 2000-2010 The Decade 2000-2010

Support the Project

We need your help to keep this project alive and growing. How can you help?

Submit Work
Make A Donation
About The Project

Stay Informed

Join our mailing list to receive updates about this growing project.

Art Works. National Endowment for the Arts. arts.gov

This project is supported in part by an award
from the National Endowment for the Arts.

"The great band of illustrators have shown us to ourselves and I am proud to be among their company."
- Norman Rockwell

©Copyright 2020 Norman Rockwell Museum
9 Route 183, Stockbridge, MA 01262 | 413.298.4100
Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions |
Equity & Justice Commitment