I’ve always had a soft spot for dragons. I wanted one as a pet for years. Not a cranky dragon like Smaug in THE HOBBIT, but one I could ride around the world while roasting marshmallows on its fire breath. Couple dragon love with my goal to read a novel by each faculty member of the SCBWI Summer Conference and you have my discovery of JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER by Bruce Coville.
My search for a zinger read aloud to open the 2011-2012 school year in my fifth grade class might just be over.
The first paragraph in “A Note from the Author” at the end of this wonderful story says it all.
“I desired dragons,” J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, and it seems he was not the only one. There is some powerful pull about these great creatures, something that sings to the imagination. – Bruce Coville
JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER has all the relatable ingredients to be a hit in my middle grade classroom:
Magic
Humor
Peer problems
Fantastical situations that you believe could really be true
Compassion
School issues
Devotion to a pet
Missteps
Resistance to romance
Increased responsibility
Getting around parental scrutiny
Personal growth and maturity
Heart, heart, and more heart
Best of all JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER is part of Bruce Coville’s MAGIC SHOP book series where kids grow through magical experiences emanating from Mr. Elives magic shop.
I know my new class will be enchanted with Jeremy and his dragon, Tiamat. I forsee a rush from my students to gobble up more stories in this series.
Thank you, Bruce Coville, for bringing your dragon magic into my life.
Do you “desire dragons?”
