Hey, friends!

I’ve been having a lot of fun helping my new friend Anora learn how to live among humans. To be honest, it’s not all that easy. Especially when there are so many rules to keep track of all the time.

Rules like what, you ask? Well, we dragons have to keep ourselves invisible unless we’re given special permission to reveal ourselves. Like you, I have grownups keeping an eye on me all the time. I don’t mind it most days, but sometimes I just don’t like it. I’m sure you feel the same way sometimes.

But it’s not all bad. I mean, not every dragon can say that they have over a hundred human friends on Instagram. And not every bookwyrm is given a book by a human that tells a story from a dragon’s perspective. I guess that makes me pretty special!

Well, as part of Anora’s training, we read A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder. It’s not a big book, but we took our time reading it to each other every night. Every chapter begins with a bit of advice about how a dragon can best care for the human in their life, and every chapter shows just how hard it can be to follow that advice.

I think that’s what made reading this book so much fun!

“Are you really a dragon?”

All Miss Drake wants is to remember her dear “Fluffy” in peace. But two days after her favorite pet’s funeral, her life is upended by the arrival of “Fluffy’s” great-niece Winnie. Turns out “Fluffy” didn’t just leave Winnie and her mom the house, she let Winnie in on the family’s biggest and longest-kept secret.

At first, Miss Drake tries everything to chase the little girl away, but Winnie is about as stubborn as humans get. And she’s as good at getting into trouble as she is at drawing…and she’s pretty good at drawing.

Like Miss Drake, Winnie also lost a human who she loved very much. And like Miss Drake, she is in desperate need of a friend.

Miss Drake wants to encourage her new pet and keep her out of trouble, but, when the sketchbook she buys Winnie turns out to be a magical book that brings Winnie’s drawings to life, everything changes. Miss Drake and Winnie discover they’re going to have to work as a team if they plan to stop the escaped drawings from laying waste to San Francisco. And they have to do it before any of the humans in the city discover magical creatures like Miss Drake are real.

A perfect chapter book for beginners

Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder must have a dragon or two among their friends, because this is the first dragon story I’ve read in a long time where the dragon looks and acts the way real dragons look and act. Miss Drake is smart and caring and willing to learn from her mistakes, just like we all should be. 

 I give A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humanfive spicy dark chocolate eggs. This is a perfect book for younglings who are ready to take on their first chapter book. Each chapter is short, but full of lots of fun and adventure. And when you finish, be sure to look for its sequel A Dragon’s Guide to Making Your Human Smarter.

Now my human’s pretty smart already, but there’s plenty she still has to learn. So do I. I can’t wait to read all about Miss Drake’s and Winnie’s continuing adventures and learning how to be a better dragon for my human while I’m at it. But for now, I’ve got a game of checkers to win!

Keep watching our Instagram for more reading adventures. And I hope you’ll send me a note about yours. I love hearing about the stories you love!

Until next time!

Note: No goods or services were exchanged for this review. The opinions belong solely to the reviewer.