What do you do when you discover clay dragons that come to life? You go on a squirrel hunt of course! That’s what happens to David when he moves into the Pennykettle home as a tenant to Elizabeth and her daughter Lucy.
The two seem normal enough. Elizabeth makes beautiful clay dragons to sell, sometimes special ones tailored to an individual. Lucy is rambunctious and obsessed with squirrels.
Slowly David is introduced into their world of dragons and imagination and the power of belief. But when his special clay dragon, Gadzooks, starts to speak to him, David realizes that something more than flights of fancy may be going on in the Pennykettle home.
I absolutely adored this book for a number of reasons. Not the least of which being that it was entirely different from what I was expecting it to be, but I still loved it. At its heart, this is a very down to earth tale of a group of people learning how they fit into each others’ lives and discovering new things about themselves. Such as David discovering his love of writing stories.
But the book has beautifully woven undercurrents hinting at a larger, mystic power at work. The fantasy elements are very subtle and written almost as a mystery to be solved rather than an outright fantasy adventure. Which makes the magic and fantasy of this story all the more powerful and alluring for how well it’s executed.
The characters are really what make this book shine, in the end. Well rounded, flawed, and sympathetic to the point where you truly wish you could meet some of them in real life. Truly the strength of the characterizations was what made me sad that the book was over.
You’ve probably guessed my score, but I can confidently say that this delightful kids fantasy novel earns 5/5 stars from me. I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the series.
