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Dragon Towers: The Ghostly Surprise by Pip Bird
The Blurb On The Back:
Things get SPOOKY at Dragon Towers!
Dragon Towers is holding its super scary SPOOKYTIME festival and Theo, his friends and the dragons can’t wait for PERILOUS pumpkin-picking, FEARSOME midnight feasts and FRIGHTFUL fancy dress - but then they hear strange roars coming from the forbidden tower … is it an actual ghost dragon?
It’s October and half-term is almost over. Theo has enjoyed being home with his parents and baby brother Dex but he’s desperate to get back to Dragon Towers and his dragon Wanda (a mirror dragon whose bum turns purple when she mimics the powers of other dragons) and all of the friends that he has made there. But most of all, Theo is looking forward to Halloween and is really looking forward to seeing what the school has planned.
But when the magical orb that transports him to the school drops him near the forbidden tower, he hears strange roars coming from inside it. Theo has read all about the terrifying headless ghost dragon that is supposed to live there, but there’s just a story. Isn’t it?
The second book in this comic fantasy series by Pip Bird (a pseudonym for a collection of writers) for readers aged 6+ is an amusing affair with a lot of bum and fat jokes. David O’Connell’s illustrations add to the humour (I particularly liked how he gets across Wanda’s character) and I enjoyed the antics of the zombicorns. That said there are a lot of characters and I got some mixed up so a character list at the start would be helpful.
I picked this up not realising that it was the second book in a series. Unusually, this isn’t a book that summarises previous book events so it took me a while to understand the set up of Dragon Towers and the relationships between the various characters and dragons. I did manage to follow what was going on, but if you have a young reader, then I think you need to start them with DRAGON TOWERS so that they know what is happening.
I enjoyed Theo’s enthusiasm for studying at Dragon Towers and in particular his friendship with Wanda the dragon. I particularly liked how caring Wanda is shown to be (if not, perhaps, the sharpest tool in the box) and is keen to look after and befriend other creatures, including the troublesome zombicorns who tend to eat whatever they can get their teeth on.
There are a lot of characters in Dragon Towers, which surprised me given how short the book is. Although there’s a list of dragons at the end, completely with a handy breakdown of their likes, dislikes and powers, I could have done with a similar list for the other characters because I did tend to get Theo’s friends and the teachers mixed up. Saying that, I enjoyed the representation in the book, e.g. Felix has a limb difference which gets mentioned in a way that felt very authentic and although the characterisations are pretty broad - e.g. Maeve is a big fan of all things dark and spooky.
The story itself is slim but rocks along at a good pace. There are a lot of mentions of bums and farts, which young readers will enjoy but the book’s main thing is about friendship and being kind and knowing when to say sorry, which are all good messages that I cannot criticise.
All in all, if you’re looking for a way to get your young reader into fantasy then this is a good way in and I would be happy to read other books in this series.
The Verdict:
The second book in this comic fantasy series by Pip Bird (a pseudonym for a collection of writers) for readers aged 6+ is an amusing affair with a lot of bum and fat jokes. David O’Connell’s illustrations add to the humour (I particularly liked how he gets across Wanda’s character) and I enjoyed the antics of the zombicorns. That said there are a lot of characters and I got some mixed up so a character list at the start would be helpful.
DRAGON TOWERS: THE GHOSTLY SURPRISE was released in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Dragon Towers is holding its super scary SPOOKYTIME festival and Theo, his friends and the dragons can’t wait for PERILOUS pumpkin-picking, FEARSOME midnight feasts and FRIGHTFUL fancy dress - but then they hear strange roars coming from the forbidden tower … is it an actual ghost dragon?
It’s October and half-term is almost over. Theo has enjoyed being home with his parents and baby brother Dex but he’s desperate to get back to Dragon Towers and his dragon Wanda (a mirror dragon whose bum turns purple when she mimics the powers of other dragons) and all of the friends that he has made there. But most of all, Theo is looking forward to Halloween and is really looking forward to seeing what the school has planned.
But when the magical orb that transports him to the school drops him near the forbidden tower, he hears strange roars coming from inside it. Theo has read all about the terrifying headless ghost dragon that is supposed to live there, but there’s just a story. Isn’t it?
The second book in this comic fantasy series by Pip Bird (a pseudonym for a collection of writers) for readers aged 6+ is an amusing affair with a lot of bum and fat jokes. David O’Connell’s illustrations add to the humour (I particularly liked how he gets across Wanda’s character) and I enjoyed the antics of the zombicorns. That said there are a lot of characters and I got some mixed up so a character list at the start would be helpful.
I picked this up not realising that it was the second book in a series. Unusually, this isn’t a book that summarises previous book events so it took me a while to understand the set up of Dragon Towers and the relationships between the various characters and dragons. I did manage to follow what was going on, but if you have a young reader, then I think you need to start them with DRAGON TOWERS so that they know what is happening.
I enjoyed Theo’s enthusiasm for studying at Dragon Towers and in particular his friendship with Wanda the dragon. I particularly liked how caring Wanda is shown to be (if not, perhaps, the sharpest tool in the box) and is keen to look after and befriend other creatures, including the troublesome zombicorns who tend to eat whatever they can get their teeth on.
There are a lot of characters in Dragon Towers, which surprised me given how short the book is. Although there’s a list of dragons at the end, completely with a handy breakdown of their likes, dislikes and powers, I could have done with a similar list for the other characters because I did tend to get Theo’s friends and the teachers mixed up. Saying that, I enjoyed the representation in the book, e.g. Felix has a limb difference which gets mentioned in a way that felt very authentic and although the characterisations are pretty broad - e.g. Maeve is a big fan of all things dark and spooky.
The story itself is slim but rocks along at a good pace. There are a lot of mentions of bums and farts, which young readers will enjoy but the book’s main thing is about friendship and being kind and knowing when to say sorry, which are all good messages that I cannot criticise.
All in all, if you’re looking for a way to get your young reader into fantasy then this is a good way in and I would be happy to read other books in this series.
The Verdict:
The second book in this comic fantasy series by Pip Bird (a pseudonym for a collection of writers) for readers aged 6+ is an amusing affair with a lot of bum and fat jokes. David O’Connell’s illustrations add to the humour (I particularly liked how he gets across Wanda’s character) and I enjoyed the antics of the zombicorns. That said there are a lot of characters and I got some mixed up so a character list at the start would be helpful.
DRAGON TOWERS: THE GHOSTLY SURPRISE was released in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2024. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.