The Dragons series by Chris D’Lacy is comprised of four books (so far): The Fire Within, Ice Fire, Fire Star, and The Fire Eternal. My nine year old has read them all and is eagerly anticipating the release of the next volume.
The story begins when the protagonist, David, moves into the Pennykettle household as he begins his first year of college. He soon becomes involved in helping 11-year old Lucy in her efforts to locate Conker, her missing squirrel. As a reward/housewarming gift, the Pennykettles bestow upon David a clay dragon. Mrs. Pennykettle makes them by the dozen. Her studio is filled with tiny clay dragons, each unique in its design.
David hears suspicious noises coming from her studio, known as “The Dragon’s Den”. When he investigates, he discovers they are living creatures who can fly, breathe fire, and have special abilities, such as cleaning or granting wishes.
Most of the first book involves Conker dying of kidney failure, which is exactly the sort of thing the I would not focus on if writing a book about dragons. In the follow up books David discovers the secret that brought the dragons to life, he goes to the arctic, dies (sort of), and comes back to life. For reasons that are incomprehensible to adults, the story resonated with my son more than any other has before or since. He’s read the first book three times, cover to cover.
A love of reading is something that will stay with a child throughout his life. Anytime we, as parents, can find a book that really gets kids excited, we’ve done our jobs. I may not understand the appeal of squirrel-snuff literature, but if it spurs the boy to read, then I’m all for it.