A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans

In this series launch, Yep (the Dragon quartet), collaborating for the first time with his wife, Ryder (Won't You Be My Kissaroo?), again conjures up a world where dragons and humans interact, and the results are heartwarming and quite funny. Miss Drake, a shapeshifting dragon, is still mourning the death of her human pet, a woman she called Fluffy, when Fluffy's impetuous great-niece, Winnie, barges into her lair. "I could see she would be rather impossible to train," sniffs Miss Drake, whose scorn shifts to admiration as the two begin to bond with each other. After Winnie fills the pages of a magical sketchbook with drawings of fantastical creatures, the menacing "sketchlings" escape, and Winnie and Miss Drake join forces to track them down and return them to the book. Their mutual grief--Winnie's heartache over the death of her father parallels Miss Drake's loss of Fluffy--gives a moving underpinning to the magical escapades. Miss Drake's arch narration and the sharp back-and-forth between the characters create an enchanting story, accented by GrandPre's whimsical b&w spot illustrations. Ages 8-12. (Mar.)

Gr 4-7--When a dragon loses her longtime "pet" human, she is surprised to find herself now paired with the woman's great-niece, Winnie, a curious and capable 10-year-old. Though Miss Drake is a curmudgeonly dragon, she gradually warms to her new companion and introduces her to the magical creatures that live secretly in their city of San Francisco. Miss Drake narrates the tale with an engaging, whimsical tone. She is proud, snobbish, and modern; her human disguises reflect the latest fashions, and she keeps in touch with magical friends via cell phone. Her impatience with Winnie develops into respect and affection as she observes the girl in action, and their relationship is convincing and enjoyable. Introductions to the characters and the hidden magical world proceed rather slowly, and repeated hints at dangers to come are too obvious to generate much drama. Action finally begins when Winnie's sketches of magical creatures come to life and the two companions try to recapture them all. This task takes on a surprising twist when the identity of the final creature is revealed. Though even the climactic battle scenes are not terrifically suspenseful, the resolution is convincing and satisfying. With a black-and-white spot illustration opening most chapters, an engaging narrator, and a consistently fluid writing style, this title makes a fine dragon choice for readers not yet ready for more weighty fantasy novels.--Steven Engelfried, Wilsonville Public Library, OR