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Vivian French's The Flight of Dragons is a funny fairy-tale adventure for 10 year olds about a lost dragon's egg that all the wrong people would love to get their hands on.
This is the fourth Tales from the Five Kingdoms book. Prince Marcus wants to give Gracie Gillypot a proper birthday adventure. So when he hears dragons have been seen near the borders, he thinks he's found the perfect present!
Professor Scallio isn't so sure. His bats have been counting dragon sightings for him, and he's worried. Then a young bat called Millie notices the golden dragon looks just like a mum who's lost her little one. Could there be an egg, left behind eighty years ago and about to hatch?
A baby dragon raised by the wrong people would be a disaster. And the Five Kingdoms has plenty of those.
Meanwhile, at the palace of Niven's Knowe, Princess Fedora has sacked the cook because a very bossy book on palace management told her to. Now the servants are on strike. And two horrible twins, Conducta and Globula Canker, have spotted the palace's job notice and a chance to make some easy money.
It's properly funny. Everyone talks in their own way. Marlon the bat says "kiddo" and "no prob", Gubble the troll only ever wants cookies, and Fedora calls her husband "Poppetty woozle" when she's trying to be nice (he isn't fooled).
The Canker twins are gloriously nasty. They threaten to bite a little boy's nose off and dream about nothing but chocolate. Who doesn't love a baddie you can boo at?
Readers who like a big cast, silly names and lots of storylines slowly heading towards each other will have a great time. The story hops between the library, the palace and the road south, so it suits a confident reader. Characters from the earlier books turn up, but you're told who they are as you go.
If they'd like to go back to the very start of the series, try The Robe of Skulls. A sorceress has her heart set on a new velvet dress trimmed with skulls, and her treasure chest turns out to be empty.
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