The Ultimate Guide to Growing Dragons (The Boy Who Grew Dragons 6) Andy Shepherd 9781800783157

An enchanting companion title to Andy Shepherd and Sara Ogilvie's bestselling THE BOY WHO GREW DRAGONS series

Tomas, the boy who grew dragons, is officially the Grand High Dragon Master. He's lived with his dragons - Flicker and Zing - and grown dozens more. He's an expert at caring for the dragonfruit tree. He knows all the tricks for training dragons, nurturing dragonfruit seedlings and defusing dragon poo. So - he has this brilliant idea. He and his friends have got to get all their dragon expertise down, in one easy-to-read place, for them, and anyone else who might find themselves growing dragons!

The only problem is - Tomas's friends Ted, Kat, Kai, Liam and Aura are currently scattered all around the world, from Suffolk to Mexico to China. Perhaps, though, if they can get their heads together, they can figure this all out together, and create the most brilliant ULTIMATE GUIDE ever, together?

Of course, what they don't realise is they still have a lot to learn about dragons!

Andy Shepherd (Author)
Andy Shepherd is the author of the bestselling THE BOY WHO GREW DRAGONS series. She lives near Cambridge with her husband and two sons.

Sara Ogilvie (Illustrator)
Sara Ogilvie is an award-winning illustrator. She was born in Edinburgh in 1971 and now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne. Sara's many picture books include THE DETECTIVE DOG by Julia Donaldson, THE WORST PRINCESS by Anna Kemp, and IZZY GIZMO by Pip Jones. Her middle grade fiction includes Phil Earle's DEMOLITION DAD (and others in the Storey Street series).
www.saraogilvie.com

What a whirlwind of a book this is. Part guide to growing and caring for dragons and part story. Following on from the very popular five 'Dragon' series of books this is introduced as an Essential Guide for all would be Dragon Gardeners.
Tomas is obsessed by dragons and has had numerous adventures and encounters alongside his friends and Grandpa in the previous books in the series. This 'guide' aims to pull together all of Tomas' knowledge and advice. Although Tomas' friends from the previous books are now scattered all over the world, they speak regularly to each other through various electronic means to share their thoughts, ideas and dragon facts.
There is a wonderful mix of madcap facts, stories and conversations that will delight 'Dragon' fans, told through text messages, fact cards (a bit like top trumps) and chats. Each facet of the book is differentiated by a change in text style to make it easily distinguishable. There are wonderful, lively black and white illustrations throughout by Sara Ogilvie which really enhance the story. The text is accessible and interesting with a good layout, leaving plenty of white space on the pages for those who maybe find reading tricky. Whilst there is a narrative story running throughout the book it can also be a pickup and put down read for the more nonfiction style of reader. However, this is a story, and we are talking about dragons, so we do have to go with the flow so to speak.
There are some fascinating insights into dragon care! I particularly liked 'Where to keep your dragon; Before you grow a dragon, make sure you have somewhere warm and cosy for it to sleep. Hats are fine, but a shoebox is ideal!' Who knew!
This is a great fun read that will captivate those 'dragon' minded youngsters out there.