The Dragon Who Burned All His Friends

This is a quick, yet interesting tale of a dragon that cannot control his flame. He flames up at stressful times and hurts those around him. Those most affected are his family of course. Friends and aquatints want nothing to do with him because of their fear of being hurt or scarred or both.I think we all have stressful moments in our lives that make us want to flame up(yell, hit, scream) at others. At times it is worse than at other times. Stressful situations with family, work, school, or all of these at once can make acting appropriately difficult. Add into that the way we were raised and the values we grew up with or without and you can add heat to the fire. Anger is a tough subject, we all feel it and yet how we chose to deal with it is so different.I liked the way the author allowed Ashton to develop coping skills over time. Never did Frank expect Ashton to be perfect the first time out. He allowed for mistakes and fall-backs to old patterns. Learning something new takes time and mistakes are expected, it was nice to see that in the book and not just perfection expected. Maybe I can even start using some of the strategies in this book to help improve my anger management skills at home. Five kids, a husband, a poodle, a job and going back to school are all pulling at me and blowing-up is a quick stress reliever. I need to put some of Frank's lessons to work in my own life now that I really think about it.

Therapist Sheila Hatcher has come up with a winner here! And I'm sure she bases the book on her vast counseling experiences with people who've dealt with anger management and who've had anger result in trauma. This book is an allegory featuring as a confounding, yet compelling and lovable dragon named Ashton who wrestles and then wrestles some more with his emotions and uncontrollable anger. Just as with us, Ashton wants to do right, be lovable and have appropriate behavior, but is not always able to pull this off. Sound all too familiar? This well-written book has a lot of self-discovery appeal and answers can be found with the reading. The book lends itself well to book clubs or group discussion groups.

This simple, but meaningful allegory of Ashton's journey to self control is a fun way to do self help. This charming little dragon engages in the therapeutic process wholeheartedly. As you read, you will find yourself rooting for our hero. And you will begin to see yourself in him too. I really enjoyed this delightful book. I recommend this gentle tale about the crucible of relationship with self and others as a Pathway to personal growth.

I like this book. It speaks to me. I identify with Ashton, his nature and his anger. I feel comfortable with someone who seems to have the same issues I experience. But more importantly, the steps outlined for and followed by Ashton really do work in cooling anger. It is stated simply in a step-by-step plan of action. This book is a keeper to be referenced in times of need.

I found this book to be very helpful; it's an entertaining and easy-to-understand way to learn about anger and anger management. It reminds me of "The Knight in Rusty Armor"--a book that helped me years ago. A fun and valuable read!

Sheila Hatcher is a Certified Anger Management Facilitator and a Therapist. She obviously knows her specialty of anger management and has been successful in dealing with individual, family and violent offenders alike. It would not be difficult to see her having the ability to alter lives that are on that fragile line of controlling anger. Her reason for writing this book THE DRAGON WHO BURNED ALL HIS FRIENDS is a solid one: tell a story (she calls is an allegory) that demonstrates in memorable ways the process of learning anger management by way of inventing a fairy tale about dragons. It may work for some, but for others it seems too much too long for points understandable in the first pages.The precis is cute: Ashton is a fire-breathing dragon who has little to no control of channeling his rage into breathing destructive fire. His wife Winnie has been scalded and seared by his flaming breath and his children fear his uncontrollable outburst of pyrotechnical outbursts. Ashton is actually kind, embarrassed by his temper effects, and when he accidentally scalds the seagull Hope, he attempts to rescue her and with the help of a man named Frank who narrowly escaped Ashton's breath of fire he brings the injured bird to his care. Frank becomes the Anger Manager of the story and by story's end Ashton has learned to conquer his anger and return to the life of a normal dragon with his little family.The book is illustrated by Tianlu Chen (who provides a artistically excellent cover image!) and that helps the flow of the story. Hatcher's subtitle to her book - COOLING FLAMES OF ANGER THROUGH SELF-DISCOVERY - sort of buys the ranch. The story has some very fine points that could only come form one involved in this specialty of psychotherapy, but as a whole the book seems a bit redundant. It is not a book for children even though the many characters Hatcher introduces are entertaining. That is where we become lost - finding the audience for this outing. The information and the professional talent are there: the story telling aspect is still on the back burner. Grady Harp, February 12

This book was written as a story and just not what I had expected from the write-up...not any help with adults