Drawing Out the Dragons Book Review

I am pretty picky about the books I read.  Especially when it comes to Nonfiction.  I wish I could say that I love nonfiction books, but a lot of times I get really bored and don’t get through the first two chapters.  Starting this book Drawing Out the Dragons I was a bit hesitant, but after reading the first chapter I was hooked.  It is a quick read that keeps your attention.  I kept yelling out to my husband quotes throughout the book, and then telling him he just had to read it after I told him half of it.

The author James A. Owen is famous for his comic books StarChild, Mythworld fictional series, and his bestselling Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series. He is a writer, illustrator and a public speaker, especially for youth.  He is inspiring and has a fun sense of writing style that keeps you wanting to read more.  This book took me about 2 days to read at night before I went to bed.  I could have underlined the whole book with great quotes.  The book is about choices and going through life making choices despite “dragons” that come your way.  James Owen has been through a lot of hard things in his life.  He was told he could never draw again, he had a lot of ups and downs in his career, but he never let anyone put him down, and he never gave up.

His most repeated quotes in the books are…

“If you really want to do something, no one can stop you, but if you really don’t want to do something, no one can help you.”

“Never, ever, sacrifice what you want the most, for what you want the most at the moment.” 

My favorite quote is when he explains that our life is like a book…

“In any good book, there are always going to be sections of strife and grief for the characters.  It might last for a few pages, or it might be a whole chapter, or more.  The important thing to remember is that the story always continues.  The grief only lasts as long as it takes to read those pages, then it’s over, and the story takes a better course.  

If you think of your life as a story, then you can think of any grief or stress you might be experiencing as just a few pages –  and anyone can get through a few pages.  You are the author of your own story, the illustrator of your own destiny. You choose the words and the lines that fill it’s pages.

The important thing to remember about choices is that it’s always possible to make them.  No matter what’s happening in your life, you can decide how to respond – and you can choose what to do next. Always.”

His main goal in life is to be happy and help other people.  Which is what he is doing in his life.  This book taught me so much about the choices I make each day.  He applies the choices we make to drawing a picture.  We have to be careful where we put our first lines and it might not look that great at first, but as we continue to make good choices a beautiful picture will unfold.

I totally recommend this book to everyone.  In-fact I am going to have my 9 year old read it next.