An enchanting quest

I was fascinated by the Chinese folk tales interwoven throughout Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin! Minli lives a poor, hard life in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain. She feels bad for her parents and hopes to change her family's fortune by getting advice from the Old Man of the Moon, who lives on Never-Ending Mountain. She gets help from a goldfish, who sets her off in the right direction, and Dragon, who desparately wants to know why he can't fly. The plot and the folk tales go together seamlessly, and occasional full-page illustrations, influenced by the rich blues, greens, and reds of traditional Chinese art, are stunning. And when Minli learns the importance of family, friends, and what's truly needed for happiness, the reader will breathe a sigh of content. Beautiful.

What spark is within you?

With this cover, I assumed that The Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey would be a very dragon-y kind of book.  Yes, there are dragons, but the story is more about the human characters: Liz, a potter who makes ceramic dragons; Lucy, her daughter; and David, a college student who is renting a room from them.  Lucy asks for David's help as she tries to save the neighborhood squirrels, which she has identified and even named.  As the squirrel rescue progresses, he starts to write a squirrel story for Lucy, which she loves; when he gets stuck, he gets inspiration from Gadzooks, a dragon he received from Liz.  But what is that "Hrrrr" sound David keeps hearing in the house, and how does Liz fire her ceramic creatures without an oven?  Readers may be a bit confused by some of the language - even though the story takes place in the U.S., the characters are obviously British - but will enjoy discovering multiple meanings of "the fire within."

Caught in the middle

In Kenny & the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi, Kenny the rabbit is stuck in a bad situation.  His only true friend is George the badger, the friendly and elderly owner of the town's bookshop. Kenny is at first scared, but then delighted to make another new friend: Grahame the dragon, who enjoys reading, theater, and a good dessert.  Unfortunately, the townspeople are terrified to learn that a dragon is nearby.  The king sends a royal command that the dragon is to be slain by the retired knight St. George...none other than George the badger!  It's up to Kenny and his friends and family to come up with a plan.  Although some of the words in the story won't be familiar to younger readers, this is still a delightful nod to Kenneth Grahame, author of the tale The Reluctant Dragon, which inspired this book.