Synopses & Reviews
Jake Mendoza lives at the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies in Smokehill National Park. Smokehill is home to about two hundred of the few remaining
draco australiensis, which is extinct in the wild. Keeping a preserve for dragons is controversial: detractors say dragons are extremely dangerous and unjustifiably expensive to keep and should be destroyed. Environmentalists and friends say there are no records of them eating humans and they are a unique example of specialist evolution and must be protected. But they
are up to eighty feet long and breathe fire.
On his first overnight solo trek, Jake finds a dragona dragon dying next to the human she killed. Jake realizes this news could destroy Smokehill even though the dead man is clearly a poacher who had attacked the dragon first, that fact will be lost in the outcry against dragons.
But then Jake is struck by something more urgenthe sees that the dragon has just given birth, and one of the babies is still alive. What he decides to do will determine not only their futures, but the future of Smokehill itself.
Synopsis
Jake lives at the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies in Smokehill National Park. There are five million acres of the Smokehill wilderness, and the endangered dragons rarely show themselves. Jake's never seen one except at a distance. But then, on his first overnight solo in the park, he meets a dragon - and she is dying. More than that, she has just given birth, and one of the babies is still alive. . . .
Synopsis
Dragons are extinct in the wild, but the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies in Smokehill National Park is home to about two hundred of the world’s remaining creatures. Until Jake discovers a dying dragon that has given birth—and one of the babies is still alive.
Synopsis
Jake lives at the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies in Smokehill National Park. There are five million acres of the Smokehill wilderness, and the endangered dragons rarely show themselves. Jake's never seen one except at a distance. But then, on his first overnight solo in the park, he meets a dragon - and she is dying. More than that, she has just given birth, and one of the babies is still alive. . . .
About the Author
Robin McKinley has won various awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for
The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for
The Blue Sword. Her other books include
Sunshine; the
New York Times bestseller
Spindle's End; two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale
Beauty and the Beast,
Beauty and Rose Daughter; and a retelling of the
Robin Hood legend,
The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her husband, the English writer Peter Dickinson.