Zoey and Sassafras 1 – Dragons and Marshmallows

Asia Citro's Dragons and Marshmallows is the first Zoey and Sassafras story, a funny mix of magic and real science for 6 year olds with a baby dragon in the barn.

What happens

Zoey loves bugs. Her cat Sassafras loves bugs too, but only as snacks. (She has to keep a close eye on him around the roly-poly circus she builds in the garden.)

Then she spots a photo her mum has quickly hidden. It's Mum as a little girl with a purple frog on her head. And the frog is glowing.

It turns out Mum has been secretly looking after magical animals in their old barn since she was Zoey's age. There's a doorbell on the back wall that only certain people can see. Dad can't see any of it. Zoey can!

So when Mum goes away for a week, Zoey offers to answer the bell. On day five it finally rings. Curled up outside is a small, sad, scaly creature, and when he stretches out there are wings. A baby dragon! Who coughs sparks.

What's wrong with him? Zoey doesn't just guess. She pops on her Thinking Goggles (on top of her head, so they're closer to her brain) and runs a proper experiment. A question, a hypothesis and plates of food lined up in a row. Change one thing and keep everything else the same, because Mum says so EVERY time.

That's where the title comes in. The dragon skips straight past everything else to the marshmallows. He even toasts them first.

The science is real but it never feels like a lesson. Your reader picks up how an experiment works from a girl who just wants her dragon to feel better. There's a little glossary at the back for words like hypothesis and cold-blooded, and pictures all the way through.

There's a wobbly bit in the middle where things go wrong and Zoey's frightened she's made him poorly. She cries, and she can't get hold of Mum. It's handled gently, and Dad ends up helping without knowing there's a dragon at all.

If you've got a child who's forever turning over rocks to see what's living underneath, this one's an easy yes. It's a lovely size for reading together, and the chapters are short enough for one or two at bedtime.

What to read next

If they'd like to meet that glowing purple frog for real, he's the one ringing the barn doorbell in Bips and Roses. This time he needs Zoey's help with some very tiny creatures and the forest roses that baby hippogriffs can't fly without.