The Truth about Dragons

A Caldecott Honor Winner

Winner of the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature

An unforgettable lyrical picture book that celebrates biracial identity from the award-winning author of Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist.

Lean in close,
my darling bao bei,
and I will whisper
a most precious secret
about a powerful magic
that lives inside you.

Brought to life with lavish and ornate illustrations, The Truth About Dragons follows a young child on a journey guided by his mother’s bedtime storytelling. He quests into two very different forests, as his two grandmothers help him discover two different, but equally enchanting, truths about dragons.

Eastern and Western mythologies coexist and enrich each other in this warm celebration of mixed cultural identity.

*A School Library Journal Best Book of 2023*

Julie Leung was raised in the sleepy suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, though it may be more accurate to say she grew up in Oz and came of age in Middle-earth. By day, she is the Marketing Director for Random House’s sci-fi/fantasy imprint, Del Rey Books. By night, she writes to calm the ghosts from the past. In her free time, she enjoys furtively sniffing books at bookstores and winning at obscure board games. Her favorite mode of transportation is the library. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and many untold stories.

Hanna Cha is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. She spent her childhood in both Korea and America, and currently lives in Boston where she loves crinkling her nose in the early morning breeze and snuggling her tiger-like cat, Hobac. She is the author and illustrator of Tiny Feet Between the Mountains.