Skydragon 3 – Ride the Wind

Anh Do's Sky Dragon Ride the Wind is a superhero adventure for 8 year olds about a girl who can turn a swarm of insects into a dragon and fly.

What happens

Amber is Skydragon. She can call bugs from all around her, and they carry her through the sky. Most of the time nobody knows it's her.

But the government agents hunting her are getting closer. The book opens mid-fight, with Amber dazed on the ground and an agent reaching for her mask. She escapes with a swarm of wasps and a friend's very convincing fire-engine impression on the saxophone (yes, really).

Then the agents find her secret cabin in the woods. Amber has to use a line of ants to rescue one precious family photo before it's too late.

So Irene, who calls her Butterfly and can't bear to lose her again, packs up a campervan. They drive to the big city to start again. Amber gets a new name, a new school and new friends.

This part is lovely. Amber has spent years living wild, and now she's trying on bright clothes and worrying about a maths test. Being normal turns out to be harder than flying!

A girl at the new school picks on her friend Emily's stutter and calls Amber names because of her scar. Amber answers back beautifully. A HUGE cockroach turns up on the bully's shoulder at just the right moment (funny that).

Meanwhile two villains turn up in town. Money Man can move cash with his mind. Trouble rolls a dice and gets very lucky, which ends with Money Man's trousers round his ankles in front of a crowd. Then Money Man announces a big job for Friday, and Amber is stuck in detention.

A couple of things for parents. The agents use tasers and drones, and Amber watches her cabin burn, which brings back memories of the fire that destroyed her family home. It's also not the first Sky Dragon book, so it starts in the thick of things. A reader who's met Amber before will settle in quicker.

It's fast, funny and full of heart. If your reader loves superheroes but wants one who's kind to creepy-crawlies, this is a great pick.

What to read next

For more of Amber and Irene, Rescue Flight sends them to an island in the South Pacific to save a rare parrot from an oil company.