Dragon Girls 5 – Aisha the Sapphire Treasure Dragon

Maddy Mara's Aisha the Sapphire Treasure Dragon is the fifth Dragon Girls book, a snowy magical quest for 6 year olds about three friends and a mirror that shows you all your worries.

What happens

Aisha is at the antique shop with her grandmother when the blue bead on her friendship bracelet starts to glow. A tapestry on the wall begins to sing. She reaches out to touch it, and her hand goes straight through into the Magic Forest!

In the forest, Aisha is a dragon. She's sapphire blue, with silver and gold on her huge wings, and she can roar blue fire. Who wouldn't want that?

But something is wrong. The warm, fruity-smelling forest is buried in snow. The sneaky Shadow Sprites have taken the Magic Mirror from the forest's treasure vault, and while it's missing, winter is spreading everywhere. This is no ordinary mirror. Look into it and you see all the things you worry about, only much bigger.

Aisha is in charge of the quest this time, with Mei and Quinn beside her. They find the mirror in the middle of a flock of fluffy pink sheep, who can't stop staring at themselves and moaning about their fleece. Then, in all the pushing and pulling, it cracks in two. (Oh dear.)

It's gentle, sweet and full of lovely creatures. There's a little blue puppy with wings called PlushyPup, and a troupe of bears who ice skate in tutus. The sprites whisper mean things and try to split the friends up, but the girls stick together, and that turns out to matter a lot.

The idea behind the mirror is a really nice one for little ones. Every creature who looks into it only sees what's wrong with them, and the Dragon Girls keep telling them how great they are. Aisha feels terrible when the mirror breaks, even though her friends tell her it wasn't her fault. If you've got a young reader who gets very upset about getting things wrong, that bit might feel familiar.

The scary bits are very mild. The sprites are shadowy and a bit unkind, and a puppy gets a cut on her leg, but she's patched up by her mum straight away.

The three girls have been to the forest together before, but you don't need to have read the earlier books to follow it.

What to read next

If they'd like to go straight back, Quinn the Jade Treasure Dragon is shy Quinn's adventure. This time the Shadow Sprites are stealing the sounds of the forest, and the birds are losing their voices.