Bibliographic Information:
McMullan, Kate. New Kid at School. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1999. (Book 1 of Dragon Slayers' Academy)
Brief summary:
The series follows the adventures of Wiglaf, the hapless son of a cabbage farmer, who leaves his antagonistic family to attend Dragon Slayers' Academy, where one theoretically learns to obtain fame and fortune. The school is far from what it claims--the conditions apalling (the only food offered is eel, from the moat) and the only one more foolish than the teachers is the greedy headmaster, Mordred the Marvellous. But Wiglaf and his talking pig Daisy (she speaks pig-Latin--get it?) soon make friends, and before long he faces his first dragon, which he defeats not with a sword but with wit, or perhaps a lack of it, as this dragon's weakness is bad jokes.
Comments:
Clearly building on the appeal of Harry Potter, and kids might recognize some of the references, but they replace danger and suspense with slapstick. But there is nothing serious here--everything is broad, silly or gross, which is just what my beginning reader loves about them. It's not lasting literature, but it is inventive--and continues to be across the series (we're up to book 6) without becoming formulaic. The illustrations, by Bill Basso, are equally engaging.
Grade/Age level:
This is perfect little kid humor. These chapter books are around 90 pages each (with a fair number of full-page illustrations), and as soon as your kids are ready to handle that, they can handle this book.
Cautions:
Nothing gets hurt here, except perhaps good taste.
--Elizabeth Hutchinson
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