My kindergartener recently brought home Jenny Nimmo’s Dragon’s Child, a book so packed with cliffhangers that we had to extend our evening reading times. And partway through one tension-fraught session, we had this conversation:

Kindergartener: Dragons can talk to birds?

Me: I guess in this book they can.

K: But can they really?

Me: Well, there are no real dragons.

K: THERE ARE NO REAL DRAGONS?!?

Me: Um… no.

K: But they’re in so many stories!

Me: They’re a mythical creature.

K: Are you completely sure?

I felt bad to have dropped the news on him so suddenly, but I really thought he knew. Do you think I need to tell him that unicorns are make-believe, too?