Below is the complete list of Dav Pilkey’s The Dragon Tales books in publication order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
The Dragon Tales Books in Publication Order
- A Friend For Dragon (1991)
A Friend For Dragon was published in 1991 and is listed as book #1 in the The Dragon Tales series. - Dragon Gets By (1991)
Published in 1991, Dragon Gets By is listed as book #2 in the The Dragon Tales series. - Dragon’s Merry Christmas (1991)
Dragon’s Merry Christmas is a 1991 release and appears as book #3 in the The Dragon Tales series. - Dragon’s Fat Cat (1992)
In the The Dragon Tales series, Dragon’s Fat Cat is book #4 and was published in 1992. - Dragon’s Halloween (1993)
Dragon’s Halloween was first published in 1993; within the The Dragon Tales series, it is listed as book #5.
About The Dragon Tales
Dav Pilkey’s Dragon Tales series, often also listed simply as the Dragon series, is one of his warmest early-reader creations. Long before Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club became major graphic-novel favorites, Pilkey was already writing books that understood how beginning readers build confidence: short chapters, clear sentences, expressive art, gentle humor, and a main character whose kindness makes the stories easy to love.
Dragon is a blue dragon with a soft heart and a wonderfully literal way of moving through the world. He is not fierce, frightening, or grand in the usual fairy-tale sense. Pilkey turns him into the opposite of a traditional monster. Dragon is lonely, helpful, easily confused, emotionally open, and always trying to do the right thing, even when he misunderstands what is happening around him. That makes the series especially approachable for young readers. The jokes are simple enough to follow, but they are built on genuine character rather than noise.
A Friend for Dragon introduces Dragon through one of the series’ most memorable stories of loneliness and imagination. Dragon wants a friend and becomes attached to what he believes is a perfect companion. The humor comes from the gap between Dragon’s understanding and the reader’s, but the story is never cruel. Pilkey allows the comedy to sit beside tenderness, showing how deeply Dragon wants connection. That balance of silliness and feeling is one of the reasons the books still work so well for early readers.
Dragon Gets By uses an ordinary day as its comic structure. Dragon wakes up, goes through daily routines, and repeatedly gets things wrong in small, funny ways. The book’s strength is its rhythm. Young readers can follow the pattern of Dragon’s mistakes, anticipate the joke, and enjoy the safety of a story where nothing too frightening happens. Pilkey’s illustrations do much of the work, helping children understand the action even when they are still developing reading fluency.
Dragon’s Fat Cat gives the series one of its most affectionate storylines. Dragon finds a cat and tries to care for it, which leads to funny misunderstandings about food, pets, responsibility, and companionship. The book is gentle, but it has a real emotional center because Dragon’s kindness is always sincere. He may not know exactly what to do, but he wants to help. That quality makes him a comforting character for children who are learning both how to read and how to understand feelings.
The holiday entries, Dragon’s Halloween and Dragon’s Merry Christmas, show how flexible the series can be while staying small in scale. Halloween gives Pilkey room for costumes, mild spookiness, and playful confusion, while Christmas brings out Dragon’s generosity and innocence. These books are seasonal, but they are not just decorative extras. They continue the same themes of friendship, kindness, misunderstanding, and the joy of simple experiences.
The title Dragon Tales is also used for collection editions that gather several Dragon stories together, especially for newer readers discovering the books through reissued formats. That can make the bibliography look slightly confusing, because the individual early-reader books and collected editions may appear under related names. The heart of the series, however, remains clear: short, funny, full-color stories about a good-hearted dragon learning his way through friendship, pets, holidays, and everyday life.
Dragon Tales is a quieter part of Dav Pilkey’s bibliography, but it shows the same child-centered instincts that later made his bigger series so successful. Pilkey respects young readers’ need for humor, repetition, pictures, and emotional clarity. Dragon may be simple, but he is never empty. He is kind, confused, funny, and lovable—a perfect early hero for children beginning to discover that books can be both easy to read and deeply enjoyable.