The Dream Keeper Saga 01 – Dragon and the Stone

Kathryn Butler's Dragon and the Stone is the first Dream Keeper Saga book, a fantasy for 9 year olds that begins with a dragon eating chilli in the kitchen.

What happens

Lily McKinley is twelve, though everyone thinks she's younger. Her dad died two months ago. Her mum is working night shifts as a nurse and is worn out. Her Gran doesn't always know who she is. And Adam at school has just thrown her beloved King Arthur book in a puddle.

Then she walks into the kitchen and there's a red dragon on the counter with its head in the slow cooker.

That night her dad's necklace slides out from between the pages of her book. It's a pale stone he always wore. The next day Adam says the cruellest thing he possibly could about her dad, and Lily flies at him. In the middle of the fight a knight on a white horse appears in the playground. It's Lancelot (with a French accent) and he's lowering his lance at Adam!

The dragon turns out to be Cedric. He talks like a posh Victorian detective. He apologises for the mess (and compliments the chilli). And he's VERY offended if you call him a dragon, because he's a scout. He's been sent to fetch Lily to the Somnium Realm, a place somewhere between dreams and waking.

Cedric is the best thing in it. Every time the book gets heavy, he's there fussing about manners or hopping about with a splinter in his foot.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Grief is at the heart of this one. Lily sleeps in her dad's old shirt, her mum cries in the kitchen, and the bully uses her dad's death to hurt her. There's a proper fight at school, and a huge smoky shadow-dragon that burns down the treehouse her dad built.

For a child who has recently lost someone, that might be a lot to carry. For another child it could be a gentle way into big feelings, with plenty of adventure around them. There's a thread of faith running through it as well. Lily's stone comes from Eden, and she prays when she's frightened.

If your reader loves knights and dragons and quests, they'll feel right at home with Lily. She knows the Camelot stories by heart.

What to read next

If they'd like another girl pushed too far by a bully, with a mum working long hospital shifts and a secret world waiting to be found, try Amari and the Night Brothers.