Read There’s a Dragon in my Popcorn! free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
Tom Nicoll's There's a Dragon in my Popcorn is a funny chapter book for 7 year olds about a boy, a very small dragon and a film competition that gets completely out of hand.
Pan is a Mini-Dragon, just 15cm tall, and he lives in secret with Eric. Smuggling him into the cinema in a giant tub of popcorn seems like a good plan. It isn't. Pan decides to pop the leftover kernels himself (with his flame) and starts a food fight. Then he shouts out the film's big twist to the whole queue!
Still, the film gives Pan an idea. Why not make their own? Eric's mum finds a flyer for a young filmmakers' competition, and the theme is superheroes.
Pan writes a whole script overnight, under the duvet by torchlight. Eric's friends Min and Jayden agree to star. Pan even sews their costumes from Dad's old football kits!
The trouble is Toby, the boy next door. He offers to get them proper cameras, on one small condition. He wants to be the producer. Eric is sure Toby has changed. Pan is sure he hasn't. Who do you think is right?
Reading it is like being inside Eric's head, and he's very honest about his own mistakes (like filming his own nose for an entire scene). Pan is the real star, though. He's bossy and dramatic and very pleased with himself, and he thinks Mini-Dragons are excellent at everything.
The grown-ups are funny too. Eric's mum makes "healthy" green mush for tea. And Miss Biggs, the scariest teacher around, turns up to audition and is VERY cross when she doesn't get a part.
If you've got a reader who loves a friend who's secretly magical and a rival who's just plain sneaky, this hits the spot. It's also a nice, gentle look at what to do when someone takes over a thing you care about.
Eric mentions earlier adventures as he goes, like a camping trip and a dragon flushed down the toilet, so this one sits later in the series.
If they want to see how Eric and Pan first met, There's a Dragon in my Dinner starts with a free box of beansprouts from the Chinese takeaway.
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