I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Glade
by
Chris d'Lacey
paranormal fantasy in Paperback edition that was published by Orchard Books on May 6, 2010 and has 116 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Fire Within, Gruffen, Gauge
Third in The Dragons of Wayward Crescent series for middle-grade readers and revolving around the unusual Elizabeth Pennykettle, a potter, and her ten-year-old daughter, Lucy.
My Take
There are times to keep to a rule, and times you can’t. Especially when it means helping someone.
I adore the personalities (and accessories) that d’Lacey gives the dragons. It pulls me in, and I can only imagine how the idea of The Dragons of Wayward Crescent would entrance young readers.
The dragons entertain you while d’Lacey pokes away at childhood insecurities and reactions using Lucy’s perspective from a third-person subjective point-of-view. Those “sins” of wanting to be better than the other, of wanting to hoard one’s treasures, of not wanting to perform drudgery-sort of tasks are so typical of kids and will help them identify with Lucy. Yet d’Lacey keeps it positive in the core characters with how firm yet loving Liz is with her daughter.
That frog, Cecil, he has a pride in what he has, and it’s one we could strive for ourselves *grin*. And then there’s Grandad. D’Lacey captures the frustration of memory issues without making it a horror, and I do adore how Glade helps Pops in this story.
This is the story in which d’Lacey begins the set-up for The Last Dragon Chronicles!
D’Lacey’s The Dragons of Wayward Crescent series is so sweet and caring with that touch of the paranormal that I so enjoy.
The Story
Mum is breaking her rule in allowing Glade to come to the market. It’s one of the most secret of rules, for regular humans can’t know about Mum’s special dragons.
But here Glade is. Worse, there’s a little girl who wants to buy her!
The Characters
Elizabeth Pennykettle is a mom who is an independent entrepreneur, a potter who creates mostly inanimate clay dragons. Lucy is Liz’s ten-year-old daughter. The Dragon’s Den is the room upstairs where Liz has her studio.
Glade is only three weeks old and making her presence felt. Gruffen, 1, is a guard dragon with his very own guide to being a dragon. The listening dragon lives on top of the fridge.
Melanie collects dragons; Merlin and Daroth are part of her collection. Rachel is her mother. Grandad, a.k.a., Pops, lives with them and suffers from Alzheimer’s. Jenny is Melanie’s big sister who is away at boarding school. Cecil, a frog, lives in the pond in the backyard.
Henry Bacon, a librarian, is the Pennykettles’ grumpish neighbor. Eric Calhoun with his cheesy apron runs the convenience store. Agnes Murray has found some strays. Alfie is her budgerigar.
Dragontongue is the dragon language that sounds like Hrrr.
The Cover and Title
The cover is sparkly in greens with a gradated radial of greens to a central white, sprinkled with metallic green, yellow, and soft deep red stars, which showcases the focus of the story, Glade, a green mood dragon wearing a necklace of ivy and perched on that rock in the middle of Grandad’s pond. The author’s name is centered in a deep green at the top (the book title is tiny in the same green at the bottom) while the series information is directly below Glade in a metallic green.
