Ancient, Strange, and Lovely

October 1, 2010

Gr 7-10-This book offers a wondrous mix of dystopic science fiction and magical fantasy. Bryn is grieving the loss of both of her parents. Her mother disappeared on a scientific mission and her father went to look for her. She and her younger sister are living with their aunt and coping as best they can. Then, one of the boxes sent by her mother before she disappeared turns out to have a dragon egg in it. Bryn isn't sure what it is at first, just that she doesn't want scientists to dissect it and destroy it. She ends up having to run away to where it all began in Alaska, where her mother disappeared. Can she outrun poachers, scientists, and other nefarious characters and find a safe place for the baby dragon? Fletcher has done an outstanding job of creating a believable place and space for this story to unfold. The plot flows smoothly and quickly with a lot of action. Bryn is multidimensional and realistically developed as are many of the minor characters. Room is left at the end for a sequel, but readers aren't left hanging. All in all, this is an engrossing and imaginative read that will appeal particularly to fans of Robin McKinley or Anne McCaffrey.-Saleena L. Davidson, South Brunswick Public Library, Monmouth Junction, NJ

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2010

In a time not so far from now but within the universe of the Dragon Chronicles, 14-year-old Bryn misses her scientist mom, who has disappeared in Alaska. Her dad has gone searching for her, leaving Bryn with her aunt and her little sister. But an odd sound coming from boxes of her mother's materials in the basement leads Bryn to a leathery egg--and the hatching of a small, hungry lizard. With wings. The story turns to Tal, who was Bryn's mother's research assistant, and to Josh, who makes a living finding fossils--and maybe other things. Pollution is endemic in this world, and swarms of animals and insects appear and vanish. Some teens use tattoos and skin grafts to mimic the appearance of the myriad cancer victims. Told in the first person by Bryn and in the third for Tal and Josh, the tale knits Internet searches, social networking, teenage friendships and ecosphere studies together with an utterly engaging baby dragon. Bryn's family's ties to winged creatures and their passion for scientific learning are delineated with swift precision and nuanced emotion. (Fantasy. 9-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2010
Bryn's biologist mother has disappeared in Alaska and Bryn's father has gone to find her, leaving Bryn and her sister with their aunt in Eugene, Oregon. But then Bryn hears a "thump in the night" and discovers that in her mother's box of research materials a dragon's egg is hatching -- and that the difficulties of caring for it are all hers. When poachers and scholars get wind of "Mr. Lizard," Bryn has to make a brave, illicit, and hasty trip via beat-up VW bug, ferry, and seaplane to the dragon's nest in Alaska, where she hopes the dragon's mother will return and rear her dracling. In this "near-future" sequel to Fletcher's earlier Dragon Chronicles, environmental concerns, teen culture, and magic dovetail nicely. They're all knit together with biological attentiveness and wonder -- from Bryn's mother's research into microbes that eat environmental toxins, to the teen fashion for fake cataracts and skin mutations, to Bryn's awareness that a dragon is no more or less remarkable than a platypus or a vampire bat; than bioluminescent plankton and hydrothermal vent worms; red dwarfs, black holes, or quasars. An intelligent and wryly humorous fantasy. deirdre f. baker

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)