No Such Thing as Dragons

Philip Reeve's No Such Thing as Dragons is a chilly mountain adventure for 9 year olds about a boy who's been told dragons aren't real and keeps hearing one anyway.

What happens

Ansel can't speak. He hasn't said a word since he was seven, and his father has just sold him for a purse of gold to a man called Johannes Brock.

Brock hunts dragons. Or that's what he tells every inn they stop at, with a fang on a thong round his neck and a scar down his cheek to prove it.

Then comes the secret. Dragons aren't real, Brock tells Ansel. The fang came from a market and the scar came from a doornail. The plan is to ride up the mountain, hide in a hut for a couple of days, then come back down with a monster's skull on a stick and collect the reward.

So why does something keep crying out from the top of the Drachenberg? And why won't the wolves howl when it does?

Reading it is like being tucked in right beside Ansel. He can't answer back, so you hear every thought he keeps to himself. He's scared of the mountains and a bit in awe of Brock (and a bit let down when the great hero turns out to be a fibber). It's a clever mix. Your reader gets to be sure there's no dragon while the book quietly makes them less sure with every chapter.

The writing is very good at cold. Sleet, ice and huts that smell of peat smoke. You'll feel the wind!

A heads-up before you hand it over. Ansel's mother died when he was small, and his father kicked and whipped him after he stopped talking. That's all backstory, told early on. The villagers talk about a shepherd who went missing, and about an old custom of tying a girl up on the mountain as an offering. Brock's boasting also includes one old, offensive word for Black children, said in his voice.

A child who finds cruel parents or lost children upsetting might find the opening hard going. If your reader loves a proper chill and a hero who's quieter than everyone around him, this could be a real favourite.

What to read next

If Reeve's way with monsters goes down well, try Philip Reeve's Goblins next. It's much sillier, full of squabbling goblins in a crumbling fortress, and stars one clever young goblin who'd rather read than raid.