The Cereal Box Dragon- Read and Print

By Rachel Dunstan Muller, copyright 2021

(Scroll to bottom for printable PDF)

Every morning, Tisha had the same cereal for breakfast – until the morning her mother poured a new cereal into her bowl. “That’s not what I eat for breakfast,” Tisha said.

“It’s what you’re having for breakfast today,” said her mother. “The store was out of your favourite cereal. And besides, I thought this new box looked interesting.”

Well, as you can imagine, Tisha was not very happy at first. She ate the same cereal every morning for a reason: it was the only one she liked. But, the new cereal did look interesting. It was called ‘Dragon Crunch,’ and both the box and the cereal inside were colourful and shimmery – a little like dragon scales. Tisha tried a spoonful – and had to admit – it was actually pretty tasty. Just the right combination of crunchy and sweet, with a slightly sparkly aftertaste.

But here’s the best part. When Tisha was examining the box, she found a tiny little note on the bottom flap. It said, “Save and send 10 Dragon Crunch box tops to this address, and you will receive a free dragon.”

Well, you can imagine how thrilled Tisha was when she read those words!

“Now, you do understand, dear, it won’t be a real dragon,” her mother said.

But Tisha was still excited. At the beginning of every week, she begged her mother to buy a new box of Dragon Crunch – until she had nine box tops saved up and ready to send away. But when her mother went out to buy the 10^th box – disaster struck. Her family’s regular store was all out of Dragon Crunch – and the store manager didn’t know if they would ever get Dragon Crunch again.

Poor Tisha! It was the most disappointing thing she’d ever heard!

“This is not the end,” Tisha told her mother. “I am not giving up!”

And so she got on her bike. Then one by one, she proceeded to visit every grocery store in town. She started with the biggest grocery stores first, of course, but none of them had Dragon Crunch. Then she tried the middle-sized stores – they didn’t have Dragon Crunch either. And the little corner stores? They’d never even heard of Dragon Crunch. Finally there was only one store left – the teeniest, tiniest store of all.

There was a little old man behind the counter when Tisha went inside. She asked her question, then held her breath. “You say you’re looking for Dragon Crunch?” the old man said. “Hmmm. I think I might have a box somewhere. Now let’s just see if I can find it.”

It took the little old man forever. He must have looked behind every carton, every package, every can in the store. And in the end, he found it – a very dusty box of Dragon Crunch.

Tisha jumped up and down when she saw that box, she was so excited. She thanked the storekeeper, paid for the cereal, and rushed home as fast as her bike would go. Needless to say, she got her 10 box tops into an envelope and mailed off faster than it’s taking me to tell you this story.

And then, she waited.

She waited, and waited, and waited – for day after day, for week after week.

In fact she waited so long, she almost gave up.

But one day, when Tisha came home from school, there was a small package waiting on the doorstep marked “Fragile – Handle With Care.” When she opened the package, there was a little box inside, and when she opened the box, there was some bubble wrap cradling a tiny grey, speckled egg.

“What do I do next?” Tisha asked her mother. “I don’t know,” said her mom. “I’ve never even seen a dragon egg before. I guess you wait some more.”

So, that’s just what Tisha did. She put the egg in a little nest made out of tissue, and she put the nest in a safe place on her bookshelf – and then she waited.

This time, she didn’t have to wait long. That very night as moonlight streamed into her bedroom, she woke up suddenly. There was a cracking sound coming from the direction of the shelf, and when Tisha turned on her lamp, she saw a baby dragon, about the size of a humming bird, breaking out of the egg. The dragon had little wings, and when she was free of her shell she stretched out those wings and began to fly. She flew all over the room, hovering first in one place, then another. Finally she landed on the table right beside Tisha and sneezed – and when she sneezed, tiny fireworks shot out of her nose.

“Way cool!” said Tisha. “I’m going to call you ‘Sparky’!”

Well, as you can imagine, having her own dragon was the most fabulous thing that had ever happened to Tisha. Sparky was a very friendly little dragon. Whenever she was excited, she sneezed, and when she sneezed, she made fireworks– more and more colourful as time went by. Tisha was very proud of her new pet, of course, so one at a time she brought her friends from school to see Sparky – and the little dragon always seemed excited to see them too.

But as the weeks went by, Sparky seemed to lose her – sparkle. She was still happy to see Tisha when she came home from school, but she didn’t sneeze quite as often as she used to. She spent more and more of her time curled up by the bedroom window – which was kept closed, to keep her from flying away. For hours on end Sparky sat by the window and looked out at the sky. And as she looked, she sighed, and as she sighed, little wisps of smoke came out of her nose.

One night when the moon was full, Tisha watched Sparky – and sighed herself. “It’s been a long time since you’ve made fireworks,” she said to the little dragon. “You seem sad.”

But just as Tisha was speaking, she heard a noise outside her bedroom window. It was the sound of a little sneeze, and when she turned she saw fireworks – not from Sparky, but from another little dragon who was peering in from the other side of the glass. When Sparky saw the new dragon, she flew up in the air and began to sneeze herself. “Ah choo! Ah choo! Ah choo!”

Tisha looked at the two dragons – and knew what she had to do. Sparky wasn’t meant to live in her bedroom forever. As fun as it was to have a pet dragon, it was time to set Sparky free.

Very carefully. Tisha opened the window. “Go on,” she said to Sparky. “Your new friend is waiting for you.”

Tisha had never seen the little dragon so excited. She flew up and down and round and round. For a moment she hovered right in front of Tisha, as if to say goodbye. Then she flew straight out the window.

Now there were two dragons outside, flying circles around each other. They zigged and zagged, climbing higher and higher– as fireworks trailed behind them. Up and up they went, into the night sky – until at last they flew so high, that they disappeared behind the moon.

That was the last time Tisha saw Sparky. But every now and then on moonlit nights, she would see fireworks flashing way off in the distance. It always made her smile.

As the years went by Tisha had many other pets: cats, and dogs, and rabbits, even a pot-bellied pig. But she never had anything quite as exciting as a pet dragon.

Print PDF

This story may be reproduced and used for personal or educational purposes only. Permission must be obtained from the author for public performance, reproduction or commercial use.