Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis

Title: Raising Dragons: Dragons in our Midst

Author: Bryan Davis

Publisher: Candle Books

Published: June 2004

ISBN: 978 185985 7816

Rating: 4.5/5

The cover on this is fairly eye catching from the front cover.  It has unusual font and a rather intimidating yet detailed view of a standing dragon (our copy doesn’t have the children on the cover).

This is the first ever book that our eldest son and I read together aloud, with us alternating narrator every other page.  What a fantastic story for us to start with!  As it was our first attempt, we found it easier to purchase a copy of the book, which we did, rather than use the ereader which we had at the time we read this.  Considering we’d only read small books together the 370 odd pages took a while to get through.

The book is about Billy and his family.  Billy doesn’t know to start with that he is a dragon and he certainly has no clue what danger he and his family are in.  In places this was full of suspense and had a menacing feel to it – but there are also strong undertones of a Christian basis (at least I thought so as reading).  Whilst we aren’t religious, and it didn’t spoil the book for us, it may do for those who don’t wish to have input such as this. 

The big upside of the book is the knights, dragons and coming of age type themes.  We both enjoyed reading about how Billy accepted his heritage and how his family outwits and out manoeuvres the evil dragon slayers.  We’re both pleased to have read it, and may decide to read more in the series.  This proved to be a fantastic page turner for boys, and one which had our full attention whilst reading, and anticipation for the next instalment! 

Book synopsis:

A boy learns of his dragon past; a girl has known of hers for years. They combine their faith, courage, and love to overcome evil, a slayer who seeks to bring an end to dragon heritage, forever.     The kids at school call Billy “Dragon Breath” for good reason. His breath is bad! It isn’t the normal, morning-mouth bad; it’s the hot-as-fire, “don’t-you-dare-get-near-me” bad. Trouble erupts when his hot breath sets off the fire sprinklers in the boys’ restroom at school, and his parents learn that they’ve kept their secret for too long.     Billy finally discovers the secret. His father was once a dragon! Now that’s a piece of news a guy doesn’t deal with every day! Billy feels betrayed, alien, lost. When the dragon slayer traps him on a cold mountaintop in West Virginia, Billy learns to battle with weapons of steel and spirit while relying on a power he doesn’t understand, a power that helps him learn to trust again.     Bonnie, an orphan, tries to find a home, someone to love her, even though she feels like a freak because of a body feature that she calls a deformity. But this unusual feature becomes a life-saving attribute as she discovers that her love for others and her faith in a creator hold the answers she’s looking for.

Source – Netgalley originally, then purchased a copy for ourselves