This was a collection of short stories by an author from New Zealand, Eileen Mueller. She writes YA fantasy, and these stories are collected from other publications in the volume, Dragon Tales. I'll write my impressions out of order.
My favorite story is actually one of the shortest, Dad's Wisdom, which was adapted for children from an adult anthology. It is hilarious. I love stories with twists and this one had a doozy.
Golden Days is one of the longest stories and my next favorite. It is completely opposite Dad's Wisdom and something of a weeper, but beautifully written. It deals with childhood illnesses so it's a bit heavier than the other stories.
Math Dragon was the first story, and it was fun. I really wish I had net up with a math dragon when I was in algebra class, even though I got into enough trouble on my own.
Wingspan and Fluffy's Dragon are related stories and really cute, about two young dragons trying to figure out their futures.
I wonder if I would have reacted with the same equanimity as the main character in Suds and Scales to meeting a dragon the way he did. I don't think I would have, even though I still would have loved meeting one.
Rumbled has two brothers wanting the same dragon. Which one gets it? I know which one I'm rooting for.
It's not a long read, only 70 pages, but it's a fun read, and probably one that would be a fun family read. The only story I'd say you might want to keep in mind the age of the audience is Golden Days. As I said, that story is a bit heavy, but still written with young enough language that kids should be able to handle it.
Oh, and for record-keeping sake, I was going to stick this in the Seven Continent spot of my reading challenge, but upon researching which continent New Zealand actually belongs to, I found that there seems to be some controversy about that. I could include it in Australia, but it seems that New Zealand is tectonically not actually on any continent. Apparently many of the Pacific Ocean islands don't belong to either Asia or Australia. So, I'm thinking I need to add a continent, Oceania, and that's where I'm plugging this book.
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