Only in fairy tales for young children all dragons are ferocious and terrible, and eat princesses for breakfast. But the truth is, the dragons are noble, brave and eat only moonlight. Ten-year-old Ben saw this personally, because his friend was a silver dragon named Firedrake. Dragon Rider is a magical story about how the dragon Firedrake, boy Ben and the Brownie Sorrel go in search of the homeland of all the dragons. On their way, they not only managed to make new friends, but also had to fight with a dangerous enemy. The reader can learn a lot of new and interesting things: that dragons, as it turns out, eat exclusively moonlight, and it also serves as fuel for flights, that brownies care for dragons better than all fairy-tale creatures; that homunculus are living creatures, not created by nature, but by humans, and much more. In general, it is a good sign, when the plot of the children’s book is interesting not only for the target audience, but also for adults. The book is easy to read and the narrative contains humor.

However, after reading, the most pleasant impressions remained. Still, I really love fairy tales (especially fairy tales about dragons), and Dragon Rider is written easily and with humor. In addition, it features interesting characters, for which I want to follow. The villain does not annoy and seems to be interesting in his own way. Often it happens that, being an adult, children’s literature disappoints people with the simplicity of the characters and the banality of events, but Dragon Rider can be safely attributed to the category of exceptions to this rule. The history of the main characters of the book gives the reader warm emotions and a bright smile. It’s nice, sometimes, to return to childhood again through such light magical guides as children’s books. The book contains unique creatures, travel, funny moments, various plot twists. And dragons, dragons (a dragon, for the most part, but what a wonderful, noble dragon). And more illustrations! Mrs. Funke’s drawings I love no less than her stories – they are always so alive and funny. To summarize, I will say that the book is worth reading to anyone who loves fairy tales about adventures, friendships and magical creatures in all their diversity. Before going to bed, children (real and internal) are especially recommended.