There's No Such Thing as a Dragon is a children's storybook written and illustrated by the late Jack Kent. Originally published 1975, by Western Publishing Company, Inc.
When Billy Bixbee wakes up one morning to find a tiny lovable dragon in his bedroom. At first he's excited to tell his mother, until she coldly replies, "There's no such thing as a dragon!". Billy takes this advice to heart, but this only makes the neglected dragon get bigger. It grows, and grows, and grows, until it's bigger than Billy's house.
Billy Bixbee's mother still won't admit that dragons exist, until it is nearly too late.
There's No Such Thing as a Dragon contains examples of:
- An Aesop: The story is a cautionary tale for ignoring the metaphorical Elephant in the Living Room (or Dragon in the living room). Problems always start off small...until they become so massive and so potentially dangerous, you have no choice but to pay them heed.
- All Animals Are Dogs: Defied. Billy’s mom won’t even pretend the dragon, as real as the nose on her face, is another animal, refusing to believe in it. Her ignorance has big consequences.
- Artistic License – Engineering: Even though the dragon grew enormous to teach Billy's mom a lesson, carrying the Bixbee home off its foundations would've destroyed the house.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Determined to make the Bixbee family aware of its existence, the dragon grows so massive their house is perched upon its back.
- Big Eater: Subverted. The dragon loves baked goods. It gobbles up Billy's pancakes in a cry for attention from Mrs Bixbee, who obstinately refuses to acknowledge its bad table manners, because that would be admitting dragons are real. It later chases after a bakery van across town to everyone's surprise. When petted and given attention, it has a normal easy-to-please appetite.
- Delightful Dragon: Billy's cat-sized dragon isn't a ferocious fire-breathing monster at all, and is quite a sweet creature. So long as you give it lots of love and cuddles. Or else.
- Denied Food as Punishment: For siding with his cynical mother and not giving it cuddles, the dragon refuses to allow Billy any breakfast and eats all the pancakes, until there's no more batter.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Mrs Bixbee stubbornly refuses to believe in dragons. In response, the Sizeshifter dragon starts becoming a nuisance at the table, then eating everything. Billy's mom ignores the mystical beast even as it obstructs her cleaning. So it keeps growing, and growing, until it's so massive it's wearing their house like an item of clothing. Thankfully, Billy's mother comes to her senses, and is forced to notice it. The dragon happily shrinks back down to cat-size.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: As if from nowhere the dragon happily appeared to Billy sleeping one morning, desiring to be the pet of the Bixbee household. It grows endlessly gigantic if ignored, until it gets the affection it craves.
- Kaiju: Averted. After being corrected by her son, Mrs Bixbee finally abandons her silly disbelief in dragons, and the now-giant monster happily shrinks down before it gets any bigger.
- Kid Has a Point: When Billy’s father comes home in disbelief at the enormous dragon wearing their house like a shell, his wife is about to deny it again. Billy overrules her, proclaiming the dragon is real, and huge. As it finally receives attention, the dragon shrinks faster than the rate which it grew.
- Non-Malicious Monster: The dragon wants to be adopted as a pet, and have all the loving tenderness it could ask for from humans. When it doesn't receive any from Billy's close-minded mother, it won't stop growing until she accepts the truth about fantastical animals. Her case of Selective Obliviousness was so serious, the now-jumbo dragon was verging on Collateral Damage, nearly destroying their home and wrecking an escaping bakery truck.
- Our Dragons Are Different: An adorably friendly, bread-eating, size-shifting mystical creature, that can be any size it wants. But really wants to be Billy's pet dragon.
- The Only Way They Will Learn: The dragon isn't upset at being initially unloved by Mrs Bixbee all because she doesn't believe her own eyes, it just calmly and slowly grows to tremendous size and carries her and house away, all to humble her. Its thrilled when she learns her lesson and quickly shrinks down to be petted at last by her.
- Parental Obliviousness: Billy's mother doesn't believe in dragons, but her Flat Earth Atheism doesn't end even when she sees its real, and growing from being shunned. She won't regard it even as it becomes ever bigger. Mrs Bixbee has to struggle to do the house chores by climbing around it and out through windows, as it gets evermore humongous.
- Sizeshifter: Billy's dragon wants to be loved and is the size of a small cat. Mrs Bixbee refuses to believe it's real, and the dragon soon proves how wrong her denial is. First by growing as large as a dog, then as big as herself, then the living room, then filling up the house, then standing as big as a giant. When it finally gets the respect and attention it deserves, it rapidly shrinks back to cat-size so it can snuggle up to Mrs Bixbee.
- Smarter Than You Look: The dragon doesn't cry or complain the Bixbees try to ignore its existence, and won't pet it. It gradually keeps getting bigger. Either it will have their love as a kitten-sized pet, or force them to notice it when it’s giant-sized.
- Suburbia: Billy’s neighborhood finds its normal day briefly turned upside down with the giant dragon. None of the adults want to address the Elephant in the Living Room, until Billy has to spell out the truth for them.
- Supernatural-Proof Father: Billy's mother is bullheaded in her disbelief of dragons, even when having indisputable evidence they're larger than life. The dragon proves it will not be ignored or denied by anyone.
- Troublesome Pet: Subverted. The dragon wants to be loved, and is easy to manage, but Mrs Bixbee repeatedly denies the existence of such a fantastical creature. The dragon grows until it’s so large she has to notice it, and give it affection.
- Unstoppable Mailman: Defied. The mailman tries to deliver the post to the Bixbees, only to see their house get carried away by the huge dragon. He chases after them for a few blocks, until he's too tired to keep going.
- Unsuccessful Pet Adoption: Averted. The friendly dragon is here to stay, and becomes the family pet in the ending.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: All Billy's neighbors are unsure how to react to a giant dragon romping down the road, and seem more concerned the Bixbee home is moving, rather than what its being carried away by. Even Billy's dad doesn't know if he's allowed to acknowledge the Elephant in the Living Room as he climbs up the dragon to the 1st floor.
- Weirdness Censor: Billy's mother is so astonishingly stiff-necked she denies the growing dragon in front of her, failing to feed its appetite, and even has to try in vain to move it while dusting and vacuuming the house.
