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Review: Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , ,
Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Dragon Slippers (Dragon Slippers #1)
Jessica Day George
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published February 1, 2011 (Orig. 2007)

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About Dragon Slippers

Creel, the heroine of Dragon Slippers is hardly a damsel-in-distress. After her aunt totes her out to the local dragon in desperation (with the hope that the local prince will rescue her from certain death and marry her), Creel refuses the haughty prince and finds friendship with the dragons, who set her on a journey to the center of the kingdom with a pretty pair of what only seem to be ordinary slippers.

Along the way we discover Creel’s enormous talent at embroidery, and you can’t help but linger over the rich descriptions of her lovely tapestry-like gowns, which quickly make her the most sought-after dressmaker in the kingdom. But soon enough those mysterious slippers begin to wreak havoc, and it’s up to Creel to save the kingdom from disaster and defend the dragons from certain doom.

Creel’s feisty spirit breathes fiery new life into this epic world at every turn, making this one of the most memorable and fun fantasy debuts to hit shelves since Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart.

My Review

I know I read this book before, but I have absolutely no memory of my previous reading. I remember that I liked it so much that I gave it to two people, but reading Dragon Slippers again was like reading it for the first time. This time, I still loved it. I have some thoughts about a couple of elements that I think we took for granted or weren’t having conversations about in the mid-2000s when the book was published.

Disability and Discrimination

One of the minor characters, Larkin, walks with a limp. We never learn what causes it, but she faces discrimination for her disability. Her employer restricts her to the back room of the dress shop, refusing to allow customers to see her, as though her limp is shameful. This character makes some choices later in the book that are viewed as bad, and they do promote harm to the main characters in the story.

What I couldn’t help thinking about, and what never comes up in the course of the story is how the discrimination Larkin faced set her up to make those choices. For the first time, someone treated her as valuable and worthy. Sure, it was part of a manipulative scheme. But the narrative treats her like she’s a morally bankrupt character because she made the choice to follow someone in power who treated her well rather than addressing the societal problems that might have led her to feel those choices were her only opportunity for a better life.

Again, this was published almost twenty years ago, so we weren’t having some of the conversations about discrimination in children’s literature or having them so broadly then as we are now. I want to acknowledge that content in light of the conversations we are having and point out that even though we were perhaps less aware culturally, the discrimination was no less harmful and wrong.

A Girl and Her Dragon

One of the things I still love about the book is the relationship between Creel and the dragons, especially Shardas. I love that the dragons each collect different things. One collects shoes. Another continually adopts dogs. Shardas, Creel’s closest dragon friend, collects stained glass windows.

The connection between Shardas’s windows and Creel’s success in embroidery was also really cool. She models her first sample pieces after some of the windows in Shardas’s hoard, and those become a sensation in the town where she settles.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
One minor character speaks through sign language. Another has a disability that makes it hard for her to walk.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used once. The book uses some language that’s outdated and now considered derogatory to describe characters with disabilities.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to a kiss between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Creel’s people worship a trio of deities called the Triunity. It’s made up of two brother gods and a sister goddess. Creel prays to them in times of need. Other characters make reference to the Triunuty or individual gods/goddess.

Some characters are dragons, who have a kind of magic. They speak to one another through pools in their caves. They share a mysterious, powerful connection to a pair of slippers.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Creel witnesses a battle between two armed forces. She finds a dragon injured by spears and other weapons. Two dragons dive into a poisonous sea, one carrying a person.

Drug Content
References to people drinking ale to escape troubles and to celebrate an engagement.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: How to Train Your Dragon: How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , ,

How to Be a Pirate (How to Train Your Dragon #2)
Cressida Cowell
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published February 1, 2010 (orig. 2004)

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About How to Be a Pirate

When Hiccup finds a coffin at sea, he opens it to discover a riddle that will lead to the treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly, the world’s greatest pirate and Hiccup’s ancestor. So Hiccup and his friends set out on a treasure hunt, determined to master the art of swordfighting. How else will they escape an island of murderous dragons, defeat a boatload of Viking pirates, and survive all the twists and turns their journey will bring?

Join Hiccup and his friends on another rollicking illustrated adventure, and discover the brilliant combination of magic, action, humor, and heart that has made Cressida Cowell a beloved bestseller around the globe.

My Review

My only complaint about this book is that there are practically no female characters at all. There are maybe a couple references to female characters in the village, but no one of note and none involved in resolving the plot of the story. It’s also an entirely white cast. I’m not at all sure of the history of Vikings and whether there are simple/creative ways to incorporate BIPOC into the story and what those might be.

That said, HOW TO BE A PIRATE is another wild and wacky adventure starring Hiccup and his dragon Toothless. There’s no overlap between this story and the second HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON movie. It’s an entirely different book, as the title suggests.

At first, it seems Hiccup is outmatched and ill-equipped for the Viking challenges before him. He’s both terrible at swordplay and at an apparent disadvantage with Toothless as his dragon to hunt for treasure.

As the story progresses, Hiccup faces challenges that require more than brute strength and a dragon with a super-sniffer. As with the first book in the series, it’s here that Hiccup finds his opportunity to shine.

Toothless is still my favorite character, though he’s totally different than the dragon in the movie. He’s kind of goofy and irascible but smart. He and Hiccup make a comedic pair, but they also have a great bond which shows when things get dicey.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. I don’t know that I’ll read the rest of the series, but I can definitely see why they’re so lasting and popular.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Characters are white Vikings.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some crude references to passing gas.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Brief references to Valhalla.

Violent Content
Situations of peril and battle scenes. One human character threatens to eat other human characters.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

The Great Texas Dragon Race
Kacy Ritter
Clarion Books
Published August 1, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Great Texas Dragon Race

Wings of Fire meets The Hunger Games in this debut contemporary middle grade fantasy stand-alone about thirteen-year-old Cassidy Drake, who enters the dangerous Great Texas Dragon Race to save her family’s dragon sanctuary.

Thirteen-year-old Cassidy Drake wants nothing more than to race with her best dragon, Ranga, in the annual Great Texas Dragon Race. Her mother was a racing legacy, and growing up on her family’s dragon sanctuary ranch, Cassidy lives and breathes dragons. She knows she could win against the exploitative FireCorp team that cares more about corporate greed than caring for the dragons. 

Cassidy is so determined to race that she sneaks out of her house against her father’s wishes and enters the competition. Soon, Cassidy takes to the skies with Ranga across her glorious Lone Star State. But with five grueling tasks ahead of her, dangerous dragon challenges waiting at each one, and more enemies than allies on the course, Cassidy will need to know more than just dragons to survive. 

My Review

This one got off to a slower start for me because I had a hard time with Cassidy’s attitude. She is very strong and spunky, which I like. But she’s also a bit arrogant, compulsive, and convinced she knows better than anyone else. It was hard not to agree with some of the adults or other kids around her who were telling her to slow down or think things through.

It’s a pretty solid kind of character for middle grade fantasy (see Percy Jackson, for example), but it isn’t my favorite kind of character to read, usually.

Once Cassidy entered the dragon race and met the other contestants, I felt like things smoothed out a bit. She discovers that being part of a team means working together, admitting you’re sometimes wrong, and trusting one another. So, I liked the ways she grew in those scenes and was able to connect with others.

Texas is a part of the south that I’m less connected to, so the parts of the story anchored in Texas culture didn’t necessarily speak to me the way I hoped they would. It’s probably because I’m just better connected to other areas of the south, so it just didn’t have the same resonance that a story set in Georgia or North Carolina would for me.

I still enjoyed the Texas setting, especially the ways in which the different kinds of dragons were described as having adaptations or traits that made them well-suited to the Texas climate and landscape.

The race scenes had a lot of energy and really great stakes. I liked that it wasn’t a straightforward point A to B race, but that it had tasks and riddles, too. That was really cool. I also thought the idea that dragons were working animals and the politics surrounding their rights were a big part of the story. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

All in all, this was a fun, really different book to read. It reminded me a little bit of TOGETHER WE BURN by Isabel Ibañez, except anchored in Texas culture and aimed at middle grade readers.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Cassidy is white. At least one minor character is Latine. Another is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some violent scenes in which dragons attack the racers and racers sabotage one another.

Drug Content
Some racers are caught giving their dragons an illegal steroid.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE GREAT TEXAS DRAGON RACE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Squire & Knight by Scott Chantler

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , ,

Squire & Knight
Scott Chantler
First Second
Published May 9, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Squire & Knight

A young squire tackles mysteries, monsters and magic, but the inept knight he serves takes the credit. Every time.

Squire is brainy, bookish, and terribly under-appreciated by the brawny, inept knight Sir Kelton, who somehow always gets all the glory. So when the two mismatched heroes find themselves in a cursed village plagued by a demonic dragon, Kelton rides off to slay it and Squire stays behind to catch up on some reading. But Squire starts to notice that something isn’t quite right about this town . . . Can he uncover its strange secrets?

My Review

I tend to be really picky about the artwork in graphic novels that I read. The cover of this one really drew me in. There’s so much going on in just that one image. The knight wrapped in the dragon’s tail and held upside down. The squire holding up the lantern and looking thoughtful– I love that the cover conveys this part of his character. He’s a thinker, which is probably harder to draw, since it is an internal process. Then there’s the skeleton dog standing beside the squire and the dragon’s face, behind him as if he’s sniffing a trail of some kind.

I loved the dragon’s character and how he talked. It’s different than the way the other characters talk, and that kind of cracked me up. I like the way the pieces of this story fit together, and the fact that it’s the squire who solves it. Brains over brawn for the win!

I think readers who enjoy fantasy graphic novels like THE LEGEND OF BRIGHTBLADE will like this one. I always read graphic novels thinking of my nephews and niece, who prefer them, and I think this is one I’ll add to my shelf for them to read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Most human characters are white. One family from the town Squire helps has bronze skin and pointed ears.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used once.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The squire hears rumors of a ghost haunting the town’s well. The town was founded by a wizard, and appears to be under some kind of curse. The townspeople blame a local dragon for their problems.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. The townspeople rally, intending to kill the dragon. The knight intends to kill the dragon. The dragon intends to eat the knight.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of SQUIRE & KNIGHT in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays

Check out other blogs talking about middle grade books today on Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.

Review: Blue Moon Rising by Simon R. Green

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Blue Moon Rising (Forest Kingdom #1)
Simon R. Green
Ace
Published September 6, 2005 (originally published 1989)

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Blue Moon Rising
Rupert didn’t especially want to be a prince. And he certainly never asked to be the second son of a royal line that really didn’t need a spare. So he was sent out to slay a dragon and prove himself-a quest straight out of legend. But he also discovered the kinds of things legends tend to leave out, as well as the usual demons, goblins, the dreaded Night Witch-and even worse terrors hidden in the shadows of Darkwood.

Rupert did find a fiery dragon-and a beautiful princess to rescue. But the dragon turned out to be a better friend than anyone back at the castle, and with the evil of Darkwood spreading, Rupert was going to need all the friends he could get.

My Review
Blue Moon Rising is another childhood favorite of mine, though I might have been in high school the first time I read it. Maybe ninth grade. Doesn’t matter.

Rupert’s character never fails to draw me into the story. What is it about a guy with all the odds stacked against him just trying to do the right thing? I’m so in. Plus, his wry sense of humor and the acidic humor of his steed the unicorn kept me laughing.

Some of the writing bothers me the more I read the book. There are some repetitive phrases and lots of hopping from one point-of-view to another without warning. So be warned about that if it’s going to bother you. But if you can manage to overlook those things, it’s a really fun fantasy that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I really like that about it.

While the story contains demons, there isn’t any spiritual component to battling them. They are essentially malformed monsters and not spiritual beings themselves.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
It’s a pretty straight-white cast. Some racial tensions exist between humans and a tribe of goblins Rupert befriends.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a man and woman. Some references to sex, but no explicit details, nothing that happens on-scene.

Spiritual Content
The dragon talks about the difference between wild magic (which is the magic he senses and makes the demons strong) and human magic. Those forces seem to oppose one another.

The major villain in the story is the Demon Prince, whose appearance has caused demons to suddenly coordinate attacks. Rupert and his allies hope to find some magic strong enough to defeat the Demon Prince before he overtakes the Forest Kingdom.

Violent Content
Lots of battle scenes with some brief but gory descriptions of wounds.

Rupert encounters a witch who once kept herself beautiful using the blood of young girls. He also meets a warlock with quite a collection of animals in captivity. It’s clear the animals are miserable, but we don’t witness any harm come to them.

Drug Content
The High Warlock uses magical potions to cure wounds and transform into a younger-looking version of himself.

Review: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Brisingr
Christopher Paolini
Alfred A Knopf Books
Published September 20, 2008

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

After a crushing defeat at the hand of an unexpected enemy, Eragon and Saphira’s confidence in their abilities remains deeply shaken. They desperately need more training, but first, Eragon must fulfill his promise to his cousin Roran. He must rescue Roran’s beloved from the evil and creepy Ra’Zac.

Immediately upon their return to the rebel camp, both Eragon and Saphira must help protect the troops from Galbatorix’s seemingly invincible armies and the unbelievable strength of the magic supporting them. Eragon and Saphira must uncover the mystery of Galbatorix’s might and come up with a plan to stop him before his power grows too vast to challenge.

I was really excited to learn who Eragon’s father is. It made a lot of sense, and it’s a character that I liked anyway. The dragon Glaedr was another unexpected favorite character for me. Again, the story world is highly developed. The large cast of characters gives Brisingr a definite epic fantasy feel. Some of the battle scenes are more intense than in other books as the war between Eragon and Galbatorix heats up further.

I’ve invested a lot in the series, so I definitely need to read the fourth book, but I still wish each one was shorter and the descriptions of things were reigned in a bit more.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
A girl discovers she’s pregnant, and a wedding for her and her lover is quickly arranged.

Spiritual Content
There is a lot of magic/sorcery-type content as well as telepathy, etc. Obviously the story contains dragons portrayed as thinking, feeling, benevolent creatures.

Violence
Some battle sequences and creepy villain characters. Light to moderate gore with battle injuries.

Drug Content
None.

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