The Dragon of Lonely Island
Rebecca Rupp
Candlewick Press
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+
DESCRIPTION: Hannah, Zachary, and Sara Emily aren't too thrilled to be spending the summer at their peculiar Aunt Mehitabel's island home, an old Victorian house on Lonely Island, off the coast of Maine. It's not that they don't like their aunt - actually their great-great aunt. It's that she won't even be there. It's just the three kids, their mother (who will be spending most of her time writing her latest mystery book), and two caretakers, stuck on a dreary little island accessible only by boat. Hanna will miss her friends. Zachary will miss his privacy and his collection of science books. Sara Emily is afraid of most anything new. Once they're at Lonely Island, however, things start to look up. Aunt Mehitabel's house is a wonder of rooms, passages and treasures from around the globe.... but that isn't the most impressive thing about Lonely Island. In a cave within the rocky Drake's Hill on the far end of the island, the kids find a three-headed dragon, or "tridrake" as it prefers to be known. The tridrake Fafnyr tells them a story for each one of its heads. In hearing them, the children learn what it means to be a Dragon Friend.
REVIEW: The biggest flaw with this book is that it's a story about other stories. The kids listen to the story of each dragon head in turn, but have little of their own to contribute to the tale. True, they each learn something from the tridrake, but I had expected the three of them to have their own story to add to the legend, especially considering how much time the author spends establishing the kids, the caretakers, and the contents of the house. In the tridrake's tales, people had to work hard and do great things before and after meeting Fafnyr. The kids seemed to be getting a free ride, since all they had to do was find a cave on a small island. Still, it's a fast read, and the stories the tridrake tells are imaginative and well-written. I also found the author's solution to the often-troublesome concept of multiheaded dragons unique. Though they share one body and all memories, each head has a distinct personality, and only one is awake at a time. So, the same dragon can be a bold defender, a greedy hoarder, or an aloof scientist and artist, depending on which head is in control. This nice little plot device was much more interesting than the usual arguing heads (the heads can't agree on anything and spend more time fighting with each other than interacting with other characters or the plotline) or stereo-voices (the heads share a mind and all speak together, or one by one in turn to finish sentences) approach other authors use.
You might also enjoy:
Dragon Companion (Don Callander, Fiction - A librarian finds himself in a world of elves and dragons)
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - A boy buys a dragon's egg in a magic shop, never suspecting it will actually hatch)
Hatching Magic (Ann Downer, YA Fiction - A modern Boston girl encounters a medieval wizard's pet wyvern, come through a magical "bolthole" from the past)
Collinsfort Village (Joe Ekaitis, YA Fiction - A friendly bear and his griffin pal live among humans in an American suburb)
Dragon Rider (Cornelia Funke, YA Fiction - Threatened by Man's encroachment, a brave dragon sets out to find a legendary sanctuary in the Himalayas, with an irascible brownie and an orphan boy from London)
A Song in the Silence (Elizabeth Kerner, YA? Fiction - A girl longs to find the legendary dragons of her world... and a dragon dreams of meeting a human)
The Dragonling series (Jackie French Koller, YA Fiction - A boy finds a newborn dragon hiding in the pouch of its slain mother)
George Grove and the Dragon (LJ Lawry, YA Ficton - Three South London boys find a dragon's egg)
Dragonsong (Anne McCaffrey, Fiction - On the world of Pern, a runaway girl stumbles upon a nest of fire lizards, legendary ancestors of Pern's fire-breathing dragons)
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (Patricia McKillip, YA Fiction - A sorceress grows up among larger-than-life animals of myth and legend)
The Fablehaven series (Brandon Mull, YA Fiction - Kids discover a magical secret on their grandparents' farm)
The Temeraire series (Naomi Novik, Fiction - In an alternate-history Earth, a British naval captain's life is forever changed when he finds a dragon's egg on a captured French vessel)
Eragon (Christopher Paolini, Fiction - A farmboy finds a dragon's egg, changing his life and the world forever)
The Dragons are Singing Tonight (Jack Prelutsky, YA Poetry - Whimiscal dragon poems)
A Cry Out of Time (J. L. Redington, YA Fiction - On vacation in Oregon, a girl tries to help a young ghost)
The Dragon that Ate Summer (Brenda Seabroooke, YA Fiction - A boy finds a little dragon eating his mother's flowers)
Dragon Keeper (Carole Wilkinson, YA Fiction - A slave girl in ancient China becomes companion, guardian, and student of the last imperial dragon)
The Dragons of Ordinary Farm (Tad Williams and Deborah Beale, YA Fiction - Two kids find very strange animals on their great-uncle's California farm)
The Pit Dragon Chronicles (Jane Yolen, YA Fiction - On Austar IV, a slave boy steals a hatchling dragon from his master, and discovers more about the animals than he bargained for)
The Dragonback Adventures (Timothy Zahn, YA Fiction - A fugitive teen boy, on the run from interstellar police, finds a dragonlike alien survivor in a destroyed spaceship)
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The Return of the Dragon
(Sequel to The Dragon of Lonely Island)
Rebecca Rupp
Candlewick Press
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+
DESCRIPTION: The siblings Hannah, Zachary, and Sara Emily haven't been to Aunt Mehitabel's old Victorian house on Lonely Island for a while, but they long to return to the rocky cave on Drake Hill and visit their friend, the golden tridrake (or three-headed dragon) Fafnyr. Finally, they get their chance, but things have changed. A rich stranger and his men are poking around the island without permission, and Aunt Mehitabel, laid up with a broken ankle, is away on the mainland, unable to help. He says he's just a birdwatcher, but the kids aren't so sure... and, as Dragon Friends, they feel obligated to worry on Fafnyr's behalf, even if the tridrake itself is not so troubled.
REVIEW: First off, the title's a misnomer, as Fafnyr hasn't gone anywhere. Like the first book, this lightweight tale reads fast and easy. Also like the first book, the tridrake's three heads each tell the children a story, only now it isn't teaching each one a lesson about their own lives, but helping them decide for themselves whether or not their fears are grounded. This time, at least, more time is spent on the here-and-now rather than lost in stories, and the kids earn their keep as Dragon Friends. I enjoyed it as a light read, but, like the first book, I don't expect it'll be reread anytime soon.
You might also enjoy:
Dragon Companion (Don Callander, Fiction - A librarian finds himself in a world of elves and dragons)
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - A boy buys a dragon's egg in a magic shop, never suspecting it will actually hatch)
Hatching Magic (Anne Downer, YA Fiction - A modern Boston girl encounters a medieval wizard's pet wyvern, come through a magical "bolthole" from the past)
Collinsfort Village (Joe Ekaitis, YA Fiction - A friendly bear and his griffin pal live among humans in an American suburb)
Dragon Rider (Cornelia Funke, YA Fiction - Threatened by Man's encroachment, a brave dragon sets out to find a legendary sanctuary in the Himalayas, with an irascible brownie and an orphan boy from London)
A Song in the Silence (Elizabeth Kerner, YA? Fiction - A girl longs to find the legendary dragons of her world... and a dragon dreams of meeting a human)
The Dragonling series (Jackie French Koller, YA Fiction - A boy finds a newborn dragon hiding in the pouch of its slain mother)
George Grove and the Dragon (LJ Lawry, YA Ficton - Three South London boys find a dragon's egg)
Dragonsong (Anne McCaffrey, Fiction - On the world of Pern, a runaway girl stumbles upon a nest of fire lizards, legendary ancestors of Pern's fire-breathing dragons)
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (Patricia McKillip, YA Fiction - A sorceress grows up among larger-than-life animals of myth and legend)
The Fablehaven series (Brandon Mull, YA Fiction - Kids discover a magical secret on their grandparents' farm)
The Temeraire series (Naomi Novik, Fiction - In an alternate-history Earth, a British naval captain's life is forever changed when he finds a dragon's egg on a captured French vessel)
Eragon (Christopher Paolini, Fiction - A farmboy finds a dragon's egg, changing his life and the world forever)
The Dragons are Singing Tonight (Jack Prelutsky, YA Poetry - Whimiscal dragon poems)
A Cry Out of Time (J. L. Redington, YA Fiction - On vacation in Oregon, a girl tries to help a young ghost)
The Dragon that Ate Summer (Brenda Seabroooke, YA Fiction - A boy finds a little dragon eating his mother's flowers)
Dragon Keeper (Carole Wilkinson, YA Fiction - A slave girl in ancient China becomes companion, guardian, and student of the last imperial dragon)
The Dragons of Ordinary Farm (Tad Williams and Deborah Beale, YA Fiction - Two kids find very strange animals on their great-uncle's California farm)
The Pit Dragon Chronicles (Jane Yolen, YA Fiction - On Austar IV, a slave boy steals a hatchling dragon from his master, and discovers more about the animals than he bargained for)
The Dragonback Adventures (Timothy Zahn, YA Fiction - A fugitive teen boy, on the run from interstellar police, finds a dragonlike alien survivor in a destroyed spaceship)
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