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The Boy Who Grew Dragons

October 15, 2021 by Varsha Seshan Leave a Comment

Dragon fruit. Who hasn’t heard the name and considered the possibilities? I remember when I first came across dragon fruit at Shivaji Market. Ooh! Dragon fruit!

Book cover
Andy Shepherd
The Boy Who Grew Dragons
Illustrated by Sara Ogilvie
Image: Illustration of a smiling boy with a watering can looking up at a red dragon. Cacti all around

And the way I see it, that tiny spark lit a fire in author Andy Shepherd. She took the idea to its logical conclusion – a fantasy story about dragons hatching out of fruits on a tree!

The Boy Who Grew Dragons is a charming read. Tomas grows his first dragon by chance. Soon, however, he realises that there’s more to growing dragons than the thrill of having a fantastic pet. Firefighting becomes second nature to him as his dragon Flicker sheds exploding poo all over his room. That’s not the only thing Tomas has to contend with, though. The class bully Liam is determined to prise out what Tomas is hiding. Tomas’s little sister is too little to even understand that a dragon, however exciting, must not be shared with adults. The worst, however, is trying to keep his fantastic new discovery secret from his beloved grandfather and his friends. Is it even possible to keep a dragon a secret?

Funny and pacy, The Boy Who Grew Dragons has all the elements of a perfectly lovely story – friends, family and magic! I haven’t yet read the others in the series, but I’m sure they’ll be just as enjoyable.

TitleThe Boy Who Grew Dragons
AuthorAndy Shepherd
TagsFantasy, Dragons, Middle-Grade
Rating (out of 5)4
Age-group10+

Filed Under: Books, Children Tagged With: Andy Shepherd, Middle Grade, reading, review, The Boy Who Grew Dragons

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