Bibliographic Citation: Funke, Cornelia. (2004). Dragon rider. New York : Scholastic
Summary: Humans threaten to invade the home of the Dragons. A silver dragon named Firedrake, a Brownie named Sorrel, and a human boy by the name of Ben, set out on a quest to find the legendary valley, Rim of Heaven. Along the way, they encounter friendly and not so friendly creatures as well as an old enemy.
Reviews: “When human development threatens the remote Scottish valley where the earth's last remaining silver dragons have hidden, Firedrake, a determined young dragon, and his friend Sorrel, an irascible brownie, set out to find the Rim of Heaven, a remote Himalayan valley said to be the ancient home of the dragons. In short order they pick up Ben, a stout-hearted orphan lad, and Twigleg, a homunculus in the joyless employ of Nettlebrand, the evil artificial golden dragon whose sole purpose in life is hunting and killing silver dragons. The twin imperatives to evade Nettlebrand and to find the Rim of Heaven form the engine that drives this narrative, and the importance of belief--in goodness, in possibility, in magic, in love--provides the fuel. Various secondary characters pop up to help or to hinder, genially straining credibility with the tidiness of plot-driven need. This solid adventure lacks the lusciousness of language and intricacy of plot that marked last year's Inkheart, but it does carry the reader along at breakneck pace, the inevitably victorious ending no less satisfying for all its predictability. (Fiction. 8-12)” DRAGON RIDER (Book). (2004). Kirkus Reviews, 72(14), 685. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
“Gr. 4-6. Funke's first novel, and her most popular so far in her native Germany, is now
available to American readers. Crack open the fat volume, though, and it's instantly clear that this is different from Funkes previous books….The plot is correspondingly gentler, lighter, and mores traightforward… Funke proves she knows how to tickle the imaginations of younger readers” Mattson, J. (2004). Dragon Rider (Book) [Review excerpt]. Book Links, 14(1), 16. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Personal Impressions: I love dragons and stories about such creatures so for me, I quite enjoyed this book. It’s a wonderful story about 3 friends setting off on a journey to save the dragons and discover the true meaning of home. The story is such that you feel as though you are part of the journey and can imagine what it would be like if dragons actually existed.
Suggestions for Use: Young people are fascinated by magical creatures such as dragons and this is one book to keep in mind when they come looking for books about them. This is also a good novel to keep in mind for boys because it is a bit adventurous.
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