The Dragonsitter’s Party

Josh Lacey's The Dragonsitter's Party is a very funny story in emails for 6 year olds, where two dragons gatecrash a boy's birthday weekend.

What happens

It's the fifth Dragonsitter book. Eddie's party is on Saturday and he's booked a magician called Mister Mysterio. His big trick is sawing someone in half (Eddie has already put his little sister Emily forward).

Uncle Morton can't make it. He's stuck in Scotland helping a farmer with the lambs. But Gordon is coming to stay, and he's bringing a little birthday surprise from Uncle Morton.

The surprise is Ziggy and Arthur. Mum is NOT pleased. She'd been looking forward to some special time with Gordon, and now she's got two dragons in the house and nineteen kids on the way.

It goes wrong very fast. The babysitter takes one look at Arthur and refuses to stay. The steaks for a romantic dinner at home disappear the second Mum turns her back. Then Arthur eats the takeaway curry (Eddie didn't see it happen, but he heard the screams).

Uncle Morton keeps promising to come and fetch them, and somehow never quite gets there. Will he make the party? And what will two hungry dragons make of a magician who keeps a rabbit in his hat?

Every page is an email, and the subject lines are half the joke. Gas. Curry. Hot butt. Eddie reports each new disaster in a perfectly calm voice, while Uncle Morton sends back long, polite apologies about sheep.

Eddie is lovely company. He's loyal to the dragons, a bit cheeky about his sister and very keen on a P.S. (one email has four of them, and he asks if you've ever seen so many).

There's grown-up comedy too. Mum's big weekend gets wrecked again and again, and you'll probably feel for her more than Eddie does!

Worth knowing before you hand it over

At the party Ziggy swallows the magician's rabbit in one gulp. It's played for laughs and nothing is described, but a child who's very attached to their own pets might not find it funny. Later the magician gets his trousers set alight and runs off down the street, furious but fine.

It's short, and the emails come in quick little bites, so it suits a child who's just starting to read on their own. This is the American edition, so Eddie writes Mom and eats oatmeal.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, The Dragonsitter's Castle has the same two dragons arriving unannounced at Eddie's house on Boxing Day, just when Mum is trying to get away to a yoga retreat.