The Care and Feeding of Dragons - Softcover

Grade 3-5?An amusing sequel to The Dragon That Ate Summer (Scholastic, 1993). Alastair's dragon, Spike, needs so much attention that the boy keeps forgetting to do his homework, and he's headed for big trouble with his new fourth-grade teacher, the dreaded Ms. Cassowary. Then, mysterious men start skulking around Alastair's neighborhood, faces appear in his windows, and his Uncle George is fired from his job as a science researcher of unexplained phenomena such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster?and dragons. The mysteries are solved, and Uncle George gets his job back, after a humorous climax in which Spike's fiery breath stops the evildoers in their tracks. Ms. Cassowary takes it all in stride and even becomes an ally. This short novel, which is more a contemporary school and family story than a fantasy, favors slapstick plot over character development, but Alastair's scrapes, both with and without Spike, will keep readers smiling.?Beth Wright, Edythe Dyer Community Library, Hampden, ME
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In a sequel to The Dragon That Ate Summer (1992), Alastair's pet baby dragon, Spike, is the target of inept thieves who want to sell him to the Photon Institute for research. Alastair has other problems as well: a tough fourth-grade teacher, a nosy neighbor, and Spike's tendency to flare up when angered and to become comatose when depressed. Even worse, Alastair's Uncle George has been fired from the institute for refusing to acquire Spike. Seabrooke keeps every aspect of this lighthearted; readers won't need to know the first book to read this one, but for a book about dragons, it's remarkably staid. Alastair's problems are easily conjured and just as easily dispersed, making this suitable for the undemanding few who will devour any book on the topic of dragons. (Fiction. 9-11) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.