Dragonkeeper movie review

I mentioned previously that I won two tickets to Dragonkeeper - the movie is based on the book by Carole Wilkinson. You might like to watch the trailer.  Here are two reviews by young movie fans. I do hope this book is in their school library. It is wonderful that both boys now want to read the book:

Review One

I liked this movie from the start when we found out that baby Ping had special powers. I knew she was going to be an important character. It was exciting when the dragon catcher held Ping and the dragon egg over the cliff edge. My favourite part was when the dragon catcher drained Ping’s  energy to become more powerful. It was sad at the end when Danzi was injured but it ended in a happy way when Kai, the baby dragon hatched and cuddled up to Ping. I think Ping will look after Kai and be a mother to him.

I think I would enjoy reading this book.   Luca 9yrs

Review Two

I loved the background music and the animation the most. The colours were soft and magical. The dragons didn’t appear to be scary at all. Their voices were soft and they were friendly. I think little kids could watch this movie without being too scared. I liked the special effects used when Ping first dreams of the dragons.

My favourite part was the journey of Ping and the dragon, Danzi when they went searching for the dragon egg. The scene with the broken bridge was exciting, especially when Ping used her powers to mend the bridge. This is when we first realise how strong her powers are. Ping was very brave when she used her powers to help defeat Diao and rescue the egg.

I’d really like to read the book now so I can compare it to the movie. I think there might be more detail in the book.    Theo 11yrs

If you are an parent or carer and you want to know more about the themes in this movie which is rated here in Australia as PG take a look at this review from Children and Media Australia. You can see images from the movie here. 

Here is the webpage for Carole Wilkinson.

You can read a sample chapter from Dragonkeeper here. There are six books in the Dragonkeeper series including the prequel - Dragon Dawn:

Knight Owl and Early Bird by Christopher Denise

I do hope you have already met Owl. After his victory over the dragon, he is now appointed as the Knight of the Night Watch. He has his nighttime routine. 

"While the other knights slept, he lit the torches, patrolled the walls, and made sure the fires were burning. All night long, Owl kept the castle safe."

At the end of each night, Owl has dinner and then heads off to his bed. Of course, we know owls are nocturnal, so he works at night and sleeps all day. But, in the best of stories, there is of course sure to be a complication - something to disrupt this daily pattern and I am sure you have already identified the disrupter - it is that little gal on the cover - Early Bird. She is young, enthusiastic, keen to be a knight, and she has no volume control as evidenced by the way she talks in a larger font and capital letters. Oh, and notice all of those exclamation marks.

"Hi - are you awake? My name is Early Bird! I'm your BIGGEST fan! I want to be a Knight Owl just like you! You can teach me everything. I'm a super-duper learner. I KNOW that I can be a Knight Owl!"

Owl just cannot cope with all this enthusiasm - he needs to sleep. While owl is sleeping or trying to sleep Early Bird keep herself busy - busy and noisy. Wait until you see Owl's eyes later that afternoon. Owl begins to show Early Bird the patrol routine but before the sun set Early Bird falls asleep. After several days of constant chatter by Early Bird, Owl explodes - STOP.

"You are not an owl! You are not a Knight! You are a VERY early Bird. ... PLEASE GO AWAY."

If you were making a graph of this story - this is a very low point. Little Early Bird heads of into the dangerous forest. If I were to read this book to a group of children, I would most certainly slow down and perhaps even pause at the point so the listeners might think for themselves about what might happen next. Luckily Owl misses little Early Bird and so as darkness falls he sets off to find her. Remember she has that LOUD voice. Wait until you see how our new small hero is able to save the day and also win over the friendship of Owl. You will also want to mix up a batch of pancakes with maple syrup to celebrate this wonderful moment of acceptance and new friendship.

An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. Kirkus Star review

When I read Knight Owl I gasped at how wonderful it was. If I was still working in my school library Knight Owl would most certainly be a book I would have shared with groups of students. And now we have another treat - Knight Owl and Early Bird. Listen to a conversation with Christopher Denise (13 minutes). You can see other books by Christopher Denise here. And you might like to follow him on Instagram.

I suspected there would be a different (and significant) image under the dust jacket. I adore these tiny videos of when covers are revealed. Here is a still image showing the illustration under the Knight Owl and Early Bird dust jacket.

Check out my previous post about Knight Owl by Christopher Denise which won a Caldecott Honor.

The Girl with Wings by Jaco Jacobs illustrated by Tori Stowe translated by Kobus Geldenhuys

Wilson Taylor lives with her mum and step dad in a caravan. They never stay in one place for very long. In each small town her mum sets up a tennis camp for local kids because she is a former tennis champion. Gabriel, her step dad, is a freelance photographer. He takes photos of things around each town and then sells them as digital images for people to download. All of this means Wilson spends a lot of time on her own. Right now it is the summer holidays but in term time she is homeschooled. 

In this town Wilson meets a local boy named Errol. He tells her likes to go bird watching but we discover this is not entirely true. There are rumours of a girl who has been seen in Leseeba - a girl who has wings. Perhaps the title and cover of the book have alerted you to this plot point.

So who is this girl? We discover her name is Ava. How can it be that she has wings? Can she fly? Where does she live? And who is this man who is hunting for her? And how is all of this connected with the circus?

Now that Wilson and Errol have met Ava what will happen if her secret is revealed. Oh and you need to remember I mentioned Gabriel is a photographer. Surely a photograph of Ava will be especially dangerous.

Having now read it, I can tell you that it is quirky, fun and one of those books that while suitable for sharing in lower KS2, will also have enormous appeal in Years 5 and 6. Highly original, often surreal and, at less than 200 pages, quite a short read, this is book that is gentle and sweet and one that is filled with mystery and friendship as we meet the titular girl with wings and uncover her story. Mrs Sydney

Companion books:

Yesterday Crumb and the storm in a teacup

The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen

The Girl who walked on Air

The Girl who could Fly (US Cover)

Long Road to the Circus

I saw The Girl with Wings in a local bookstore last week and I immediately recognised the South African author Jaco Jacobs. I previously really enjoyed these two books:

A Good day for Climbing Trees

A Good Night for Shooting Zombies

Nobody Hugs a Cactus by Carter Goodrich

If you look at the front and back end papers of Nobody Hugs a Cactus you can see actually 'someone' will hug this cactus but I am sure you won't be able to guess just how this happened.

You can see eight pages from this book on the author web page. Here is the Kirkus review.

Publisher blurb: Hank is the prickliest cactus in the entire world. He sits in a pot in a window that faces the empty desert, which is just how he likes it. So, when all manner of creatures—from tumbleweed to lizard to owl—come to disturb his peace, Hank is annoyed. He doesn’t like noise, he doesn’t like rowdiness, and definitely does not like hugs. But the thing is, no one is offering one. Who would want to hug a plant so mean? Hank is beginning to discover that being alone can be, well, lonely. So he comes up with a plan to get the one thing he thought he would never need: a hug from a friend.

A great pick for grumpy days when you might be feeling a bit prickly yourself. Waking Brain Cells

After reading this book you might like to see some flowering cactus plants.  I used to have a large one on my balcony but it was difficult to move it around because - yes you have guessed - it was way too prickly.

Carter Goodrich was the lead character designer for Brave, Ratatouille and Despicable Me. His picture books include We Forgot Brock!, Say Hello to Zorro!, Zorro Gets an Outfit, Mister Bud Wears the Cone, A Creature Was Stirring, and The Hermit Crab. 

Here in Australia picture books from America are now priced way beyond any school or public library budget. This book was donated to the library where I found it. I have seen this book listed between AUS$30 and AUS$45. Nobody Hugs a Cactus was published in 2019. 

I have previously talked about books and hugs:

Hug Me

Hug me, Please!

The Hug Machine

The Giant Hug

I haven't seen this one but it also sounds perfect:

And here are two other books about prickles and the need for a friend:

Enmore

A Porcupine named Fluffy

The Falling Boy by David Almond

"There were battered faded signs. KEEP OUT. NO ENTRY. 

BEWARE DANGER OF DEATH. One had a silhouette of a falling boy on it."

"Beyond it was the wasteland - shrubs and scrawny trees and brambles and rubble and dusty ground. And old tombstones, lopsided, broken, lots of them topped to the earth. Then the chapel itself. Ancient, crumbling. The roof was shattered and the spire was nearly gone. Most of the windows were bricked up, the huge front door had bars and boards across it."

It is the summer holidays. Obviously these warning signs mean nothing to the local kids. In fact they have meant nothing for several generations as the graffiti inside attests. The kids call this place the Chapel of Doom. There had been plans to use it for a restaurant or a club or a community centre or a museum or even restore it as a church but nothing had happened for decades.

Joff does have a lot going on in his life - high school starts soon and worse dad is very ill. 

"I wanted this stupid rotten time to be over. I wanted to feel happy and strong like I used to feel. I wanted to be the proper Joff Johnson again."

David Almond explains he was going through his own cancer journey when he wrote this book which is dedicated to a hospital where he lives in Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

I did keep thinking something dreadful was going to happen (you need to read this book to see if I was right). David Almond gave me some serious story hints such as crows flapping out through the shattered roof as Joff enters the building. Then we read that his dad told him there used to be a golden angel on the spire but it had flown away years ago. And then these words which gave me a jolt:

"There were painted scenes high on the walls from when the church was in use. ... You could just about see the saints with bits of their halos, and angels with bits of their wings, and fragments of Heaven though God disappeared long ago."

There is also the mystery of Dawn's deceased brother. 

David Almond writes books that, while not too difficult to read, contain very deep themes that are sure to give readers plenty to think about long after the book is finished. No wonder he won the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal. I was left with some unanswered questions in this book - but that is a good thing - readers do not need to have all the answers. I also felt a lot of internal tension reading this book - expecting a dreadful outcome - maybe I was wrong to feel this?

I wanted to compare The Falling Boy with Skellig.

I read Skellig decades ago. It was published in 1998 and so I am sure my memories are fragmented and incomplete but I did keep thinking there are links between this newest book by David Almond - The Falling Boy and Skellig (winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year Award). 

• Both stories feature a lonely boy - Michael in Skellig and Joff in The Falling Boy
• A loved family member has a serious illness - Michael's sister in Skellig and Dad in The Falling Boy
• The boy makes friends with a girl - Mina in Skellig, Dawn in The Falling Boy
• The girl has a role in healing the boy or helping him navigate difficult times
• There are issues of bullying
• The setting in both books include an old disused building - in the Falling Boy it is an old church
• The ending of both books leave readers with a sense of hope and renewal

The Falling Boy blurb from the author page: Nothing is the same for Joff this summer. His dad is ill, his mam is working, there’s a new kid in town. He can’t wait to escape each day and explore with his dog Jet. But there’s one place he’s not allowed to explore. Above the town sits the Chapel of Doom, ancient and crumbling, with its warning signs and the legend of the Falling Boy. And when Joff’s adventures take him beyond the boundaries he discovers something unexpected, something truly magical …

There are at least two falling boys in this new novel from David Almond. The first appears in silhouette on the danger sign as Joff approaches the ruined Chapel of Doom above his village. The second is Joff himself, on the verge of secondary school, tumbling and flailing into a pit of confusion and despair as his beloved dad (perhaps a third falling boy?) undergoes treatment for cancer. If you have read any of Almond’s novels before, you might know how this might work out. Books for Keeps

The Falling Boy is about Joff, a boy in the north-east whose Dad is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer of the colon. Joff has friends, he has an enemy, and he meets a girl who doesn’t quite fit in. It is the start of the summer holidays, and Joff spends time visiting an abandoned chapel – the Chapel of Doom – the one he went to with his Dad before he fell ill, and plays there. This is where the title of the book comes from, as the chapel is rumored to have been the site of a boy falling to his death, and is now an angel. A myth? A legend? Just Imagine

Here are some books I previously mentioned for readers to explore after Skellig:

The Amazing Mind of Alice Makin

Angel Creek

Meet the Canadian illustrator Carmen Mok

Image Source: Vancouver Guardian

Image source: Foliojr

Carmen Mok studied studio art at the University of Waterloo and craft design at Sheridan College. While working as a magazine graphic designer she had the opportunity to explore editorial illustration, which inspired her to change her creative path and become an illustrator. Carmen’s illustrations have been published in magazines across Canada and the U.S., as well as on greeting cards, stationery and children’s home accessories. She now dedicates herself to children’s book illustration. She has received several illustration awards, including the SCBWI Canada East People’s Choice Award for Illustration in 2017 and the Exceptional Portfolio Award and the Storyteller Award in 2018. Carmen lives in St. Catharine's, Ontario. Kids Can Press

You can see the covers of her books here. And here is her website. You can see Carmen Mok at work in this video where she talks about Tough Like Mum. (15 minutes). Take a look at these gorgeous alphabet drawings by Carmen. I do hope Carmen Mok is able to attend the 2026 IBBY Congress in Ottawa. 

Awards & Accomplishments: 

• Violet Shrink, TD Grade One Book Giveaway 2024
• Tough Like Mum, written by Lana Button, Crystal Kite Award 2022, SCBWI
• Grandmother’s Visit, written by Betty Quan, picture book honor title of the Asian/Pacific American Award 2018-2019, and short list for the IODE Ontario Jean Throop Book Award 2019
• The Exceptional Portfolio Award 2018 by the Peers, SCBWI Canada East
• The Storyteller Award 2018 by the Faculty, SCBWI Canada East
• The People's Choice Award for Illustration 2017, SCBWI Canada East

Orris and Timble

Due for publication early in 2025

Publisher blurb: Through the window, the child can hear the trees breathe and watches them sway back and forth as they begin to dance. Then bears join in, accompanied by the child on their drum, making so much noise they wake up a dragon! The dragon’s smoky breath fills the sky, and the wind forms a knight on a steed that gallops through the stars. The child’s adventure continues, as one wonderful flight of fancy leads to the next, from pirates to mermaids to whales, until they find themselves sitting silent once again among the trees. 

Kirkus Star review

This is the companion volume to Cone Cat

Mok’s illustrations are in subdued hues, with a predominantly purple, green, and gray palette that pairs well with the dark purple print. Careful lines add detail and depth while giving the perception 

of a tactile, orderly calm. Kirkus

Here is a new book from Carmen Mok due out early in 2025. Alfred Blooms:

I like the sound of Luna's Green Pet.  Here is the publisher blurb: Luna longs for a pet but the apartment building where she and her family live has a very strict NO PETS! policy. Not even goldfish are allowed. While her friends try to help with alternate pet suggestions, none interest Luna. Almost ready to give up, Luna spies in the trash something small, something green, something someone has discarded—a wilted plant. Perfect! Luna names her new pet Stephanie, confident she can nurse the plant back to health. When others question Stephanie’s suitability as a pet, Luna’s devotion is unwavering. She knows Stephanie is perfect just as she is. But will Luna’s love and care be enough to bring Stephanie to full health? And what are those strange bumps growing on her?

You could pair this with My Amazing Poo Plant from the Aussie Nibbles series. 

Escape to the River Sea by Emma Carroll

Bookseller blurb: In 1946, Rosa Sweetman, a young Kindertransport girl, is longing for her family to claim her. The war in Europe is over and she is the only child left at Westwood, a rambling country estate in the north of England, where she'd taken refuge seven years earlier. The arrival of a friend of the family, Yara Fielding, starts an adventure that will take Rosa deep into the lush beauty of the Amazon rainforest in search of jaguars, ancient giant sloths and somewhere to belong. What she finds is Yara's lively, welcoming family on the banks of the river and, together, they face a danger greater than she could ever have imagined. Featuring places and characters known and loved by fans of Journey to the River Sea (including, among others, Maia, Finn, Miss Minton and Clovis) this spectacular new chapter in the story tells of the next generation and the growing threats to the Amazon rainforest that continue to this day.

In order to really enjoy this book (2022) which continues the famous story Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson you do need to read the original and if possible read the two books close together. I first read Journey to the River Sea in 2001 when it was first published. Then I re-read it in 2012.

There has a been a trend over recent years for 'famous' modern authors to continue classic stories. I have talked about this previously.

I have had Escape to the River Sea on my 'to read' list for several years so I was delighted to find a mint condition copy in a charity bookshop for just AUS$4. I did hold my interest and there were some good twists and turns especially towards the end but I do need to say it didn't quite give me the delight of the original story. Having said that there is a strong sense of place - the Amazon River and I did enjoy the team work of the young characters who are determined to discover the elusive giant sloth along with the truth about the shady men who seem to be also on this hunt. 

I do agree with these review comments:

Plants, animals, intense heat, rushing rivers, risks and true danger are around every corner, giving readers a vivid picture of this very special part of the world. Scope for Imagination

A shoutout must also be made to the stunning cover artwork by Katie Hickey which in my opinion will make the hardback version of this book a hugely desirable addition to bookshelves everywhere. V's View from the Bookshelves

I would highly recommend returning to Eva Ibbotson’ s book (and her others) and also encourage classes to read other titles that have had sequels (or indeed prequels) published by different authors to see how they compare and contrast to the original. Just Imagine