Dragon Girls 8 – Phoebe the Moonlight Dragon

Maddy Mara's Phoebe the Moonlight Dragon is Dragon Girls book 8, a gentle magical adventure for 6 year olds about a girl who's scared of the dark and gets to be a dragon of the night.

What happens

Phoebe doesn't like the dark one bit. She sometimes gets homesick at sleepovers, so she likes her best friends Rosie and Stella to sleep at hers. A big full moon helps, though. It's like having a night-light in the sky.

Then one Tuesday the moonlight turns aqua, a song floats in through her window and Phoebe is whisked off to the Magic Forest. She lands with pale blue scales and taloned claws. She's a Night Dragon again!

But something's wrong. A red Fire Moon is keeping all the animals awake, and the baby squirrels are grumpy and itchy. The Tree Queen asks Phoebe to lead the quest this time. Phoebe isn't sure she's the leading type at all.

The quest takes the girls to a hatchery by the Moon Lake. Little Newt Nurses carry eggs on their backs, and inside the eggs are Dreamlets, stripy wriggly creatures who whisper dreams to sleeping animals. The Night Dragons' roar turns out to be cool, not hot, and it's just what the eggs need to hatch. Then there's a flash of light and the Dreamlets vanish.

The Fire Sparks are behind it. They buzz round your eyes and ears and grow stronger when you get cross. So Phoebe has to breathe slowly and picture something calm. That's a lovely trick for a little one to borrow at bedtime (or in a supermarket queue).

It's warm and friendly, full of flying, roaring and friendship. The scary bits are small. A dark cave, a rushing river that could send you to sleep. And Phoebe always has her friends right behind her.

Isn't it nice when the nervous one gets to be in charge?

If your reader is a bit of a worrier, Phoebe is a very kind heroine to meet. She's brave because she's scared, not because she isn't.

What to read next

This is the second Night Dragons adventure, and it follows on from Rosie's. To go back to where the Night Dragons began, try Rosie the Twilight Dragon, which has Rosie's first trip to the forest, through a sink full of rose-scented soap bubbles.