The Dragonsitter

Josh Lacey's The Dragonsitter is a laugh-out-loud story for 6 year olds, written as one long run of emails to an uncle who simply won't answer.

What happens

Uncle Morton has gone on holiday and left his dragon with Eddie's family for a week. He handed it over, hopped back in his taxi and went. No instructions. Not even the dragon's name.

Eddie's very first email says it all. Come home right now, because Jemima has been eaten by the dragon! (Jemima was his little sister Emily's rabbit.)

Things go downhill from there. The dragon burns a hole in the curtains, makes a hole in the fridge door to get at the milk and poos on the carpet in Mum's bedroom. He chases the cats next door. He even sets fire to the postman's sleeve through the letterbox (the postman is fine, but furious).

Mum keeps a tab of what Uncle Morton owes them. Groceries, curtains, one fridge, one rabbit. Every so often Eddie tacks the latest total onto the end of an email.

And Uncle Morton still doesn't reply. When Mum rings his hotel, they say he never even arrived!

Half the fun is in the email subject lines. URGENT!!!!!! Tethers. Where are you?!!??? And the attachments you never get to see (who wouldn't want to open one called Poopy shoes?).

Eddie is a brilliant narrator. He's loyal to the dragon and to his uncle, puts out fires with a saucepan, and reports each new disaster in a very calm voice. He's very easy to like.

There's a gentle grown-up joke running underneath it too. Mum is at the end of her tether, and Eddie has no idea what a tether is.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The rabbit being eaten is on the very first page, and Emily cries a lot. It's played for laughs and nothing is described, but a child who's recently lost a pet might not find it funny.

This edition is the American one, so Eddie writes Mom and favorite. It's also short, which makes it a good one for a child just starting to read alone.

What to read next

If they finish it wanting more, The Dragonsitter Takes Off has Eddie minding the very same dragon again, and this time it hides in the linen cupboard and refuses to come out.