This is a brilliant selection of poems about Wales. They feel raw and rugged and are very Welsh! I loved the imagery and some of the vocabulary used.

A wonderful anthology of poems edited by the National Poet of Wales - keepable, giftable and so very readable! Love that it includes a diverse collection of Welsh voices writing about belonging (and of course DRAGONS!).

An anthology filled to the brim with poems about dragons? What a fabulous idea!

Loved the rich variety of poets, styles and approaches nestled within these pages. Edited by Hanan Issa, I loved the inclusion of Welsh language. A collection to treasure!

And I hear dragons
By Hanan Issa
Published by Firefly

A beautiful collection of dragon poetry from a selection of authors put together by Hanan Issa. They are creatively descriptive and full of fantasy. Some tell of welsh traditions whilst others read of days gone by.

Dragons everywhere by Rhiannon Oliver has a fabulous structure to enable young writers the power to be brave and create their own. With the familiarity of places, I can see this being used in creative writing lessons.

Dreadlock dragon by Alex Wharton is funny and inclusive. Bringing images of our human population into the dragon world seems crazy but necessary. Representation is key to make us all feel seen and heard.

The dragon in my pocket by Emma Smith-Barton is full of rhyme and reason. It is that familiar poem you know how to read, you know how it should flow, you see it in your minds-eye as it unveils in front of you.

A wonderful book that would fit into any school library, classroom, or the hands of a fantasy crazy, dragon lover.

Joanne Bardgett - teacher of littlies, lover of Children’s literature.
#Netgalley

The poetry anthology “...And I Hear Dragons” edited by Hanan Issa highlights the mystical creatures through a variety of diverse voices with a special emphasis on the Welsh language.

This was excellent! I have to admit I don’t read poetry very often but I would consider this collection a great entry point for a broad age range!

The foreword by the editor really resonated with me and gave this collection a personal touch I really appreciated. I also immensely enjoyed the dragon illustrations. They were fun and always made me smile.

Especially the combination of the Welsh language with the theme worked perfectly in my opinion since the language itself can sound really magical. I am not a native speaker so the reading flow was sometimes disrupted but there are explanations of some of the words and places at the end of some of the poems. I think this is a fun and playful way to learn new words and locations in a different language and I would have liked to see more of the explanations/translations. Nevertheless it was not overwhelming and I could follow the stories.

I will not rate the poems individually since it's very personal which poem works for whom. But I can say that I really enjoyed many of the rhymes and liked how different they were in setting.

As a closing passage I would like to share one of my favorite verses from this anthology with you:

“there is a dragon under your ribs
she makes a nest of wild things around your heart
and holds stories
beautiful and terrible
to light your way
as you soar through the night”

- Anderson, Sophie. “the dragon under your ribs”, lines 78-83.

A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Firefly Press for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of poems features various kinds of poems. There are a few that I particularly like. My students would surely love this collection.

this is a unique book. an imaginative use of dragons as metaphors especially "Dragons Everywhere" by Rhiannon Oliver