The Knight Who Said No: a fun and light hearted tale about finding the right time to say no

“Ned the knight ALWAYS does exactly what he’s told. When his parents ask him to pick up his toys, dig up the cabbages or go to bed on time, he does it all with a smile. And when the dragon swoops into town every night, he always runs inside just as he’s asked. But one morning, instead of saying,”yes,” he says, “NO!” He will NOT help his dad find his shield, his arrow or his bow, and he will certainly NOT let the butcher go past. That night, he refuses to go inside, and in doing so he confronts the dragon, making a very unlikely friend . . .”

The Knight Who Said No tells the tale of Ned who starts the story as a very pleasant young man, always saying yes to his mam and dad. He’s polite to everyone in his town. He always lends a hand. He always goes in when the dragon arrives, every night. He always says yes, until one night he realises that the dragon is just lonely. Ned changes and learns to say “no”. He goes round saying no to EVERYONE, to EVERYTHING. This shocks the people of his tbown. Eventually though, he finds his “yes” again and he finds a friend in the dragon.

This is a brilliant story that would go down really well in the classroom and at home! It would make a brilliant bed time story or it’ll find an excellent place in your reading corner! It could definitely create a lot of chat about when it was the right time to say yes and no! 

I absolutely love the illustrations in this book. Illustrated by Kate Hindley, the pictures are beautifully done and the recurring colour scheme of blue makes me very happy. There’s lots of intrigue in this book and kids will love reading this by themselves or with grown ups. I can’t wait to take this to school and share it with the kids at school.

Thank you so much to the lovely humans at Nosy Crow for sending me a copy!

Would you like a dragon friend?
Would you say no to a dragon friend?
What’s the best thing you’ve ever said yes to?

Talk to me! I’d love to talk about dragons with you!

S x