Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Thomas and the Dragon Queen by Shutta Crum

From the book: A kingdom is at war.
A princess has been kidnapped by a dragon queen.
A brave squire volunteers to set out on a quest to rescue her.
 

But there's just one small problem. He's Thomas, the shortest of all the squires. With little more than a donkey, a vest, and a sword, Thomas will have to use all of his courage and determination to battle a beast with many heads, reach a forbidden island, and rescue the princess from a most fearsome dragon-and an even more fearsome fate!
 

Part thrilling adventure and part enchanting fantasy, sprinkled with charming black-and-white illustrations, Thomas and the Dragon Queen will delight young readers from start to finish.



From Heather:  Thomas and the Dragon Queen is a charming book!  It's about a little boy named Thomas (obviously!) who is very short for his age.  As the story begins, Thomas rescues his little sister from being trampled by a knight who had fallen asleep on his horse.  The knight takes a liking to young Thomas and offers to take him to the castle to be trained as a knight.  The kingdom is at war and all of the available knights are out protecting the borders.  So younger and younger boys are training to become knights.


Which is great for Thomas.  He grew up hearing his father's stories about training to be a knight, although his Da, as he calls him, never actually became a knight.  So Thomas travels to the castle, makes friends with the princess and learns how to be a knight.  When the princess is kidnapped, he finds the king distraught and asks the king to make him a knight, promising to find the princess and bring her back.  So the king makes young Thomas a knight.


The rest of the story tells of Thomas' adventures in bringing back the princess.  When he finally meets the Dragon Queen, who had kidnapped the princess, he has nothing but himself to offer.  He lost his sword, his donkey (he's too small for a horse!) and his leather jerkin his father had given him.  He had nothing but his own skills and talents.  And he learned that he was enough.


I really liked this book.  I think it's always nice to be reminded that who we are doesn't depend on what we have.  Thomas was a charming young boy who was kind and thoughtful and brave.  And those are the things he needed to save the princess.  Five stars for this charming book!



2 comments:

Jillian said...

Sounds like fun. What's your guess on the age range of readers?

Thanks for the review.

Heather said...

I think my nine year old would love it. 3rd, 4th, 5th grades maybe. I wouldn't go much lower than that...the king and his men are attacked by a monster and some of them die. If I remember right it seemed kinda graphic for little kids. It's a fun read though.