Handbook for Dragon Slayers

by Merrie Haskell

Overview

Like Gail Carson Levine's books, Merrie Haskell's middle grade fantasy adventure Handbook for Dragon Slayers mixes magic, mythical creatures, thrilling action, and a wonderful cast of characters.

Political upheaval sends Princess Tilda fleeing from her kingdom in the company of two hopeful dragon slayers. The princess never had any interest in chasing dragons. The pain from her crippled foot was too great, and her dream was to write a book. But the princess finds herself making friends with magical horses, facing the Wild Hunt, and pointing a sword at fire-breathing dragons. While doing things she never imagined, Tilda finds qualities in herself she never knew she possessed.

Handbook for Dragon Slayers is a deeply satisfying coming-of-age tale wrapped in a magical adventure story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062008169
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/28/2013
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.34(h) x 1.12(d)
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Merrie Haskell was born in Michigan and grew up in North Carolina. She wrote her first story at the age of seven, and she walked dogs after school in order to buy her first typewriter.

Merrie returned north to attend the Residential College of the University of Michigan, where she earned a BA in biological anthropology. Her fiction has appeared in Nature, Asimov's Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, and Unplugged: The Web's Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy: 2008 Download. She now lives in Saline, Michigan, with her husband and stepdaughter. Merrie works in a library with over seven million books, and she finds this to be just about the right number. She is also the author of The Princess Curse and Handbook for Dragon Slayers.

Editorial Reviews

Haskell’s sophomore outing is another clever, witty and empowering tale, fluently melding historical fact and legendary material. Tilda is a splendid heroine: Wry, intelligent, sensitive and stronger than she thinks....A truly terrific read. — Kirkus Reviews

A haphazard, almost accidental progression of episodes builds smoothly to a lively and cohesive plot arc that will keep readers enthralled. — The Horn Book

Tilda is an extremely likable heroine....Kids with their own physical anomalies may particularly respond to Tilda’s adventures, as will fans of the movie Brave or the How to Train Your Dragon book or movie. — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

This accessible medieval fantasy features three likable young people, several imaginatively depicted magical animals, and a couple of dastardly villains. As in Haskell’s The Princess Curse (2011), elements from European fairy tales inspire parts of the plot. This engaging fantasy traces the adventures of a bookish but brave heroine. — Booklist

From the Publisher

Tilda is an extremely likable heroine....Kids with their own physical anomalies may particularly respond to Tilda’s adventures, as will fans of the movie Brave or the How to Train Your Dragon book or movie.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

This accessible medieval fantasy features three likable young people, several imaginatively depicted magical animals, and a couple of dastardly villains. As in Haskell’s The Princess Curse (2011), elements from European fairy tales inspire parts of the plot. This engaging fantasy traces the adventures of a bookish but brave heroine.

Booklist

A haphazard, almost accidental progression of episodes builds smoothly to a lively and cohesive plot arc that will keep readers enthralled.

The Horn Book

This accessible medieval fantasy features three likable young people, several imaginatively depicted magical animals, and a couple of dastardly villains. As in Haskell’s The Princess Curse (2011), elements from European fairy tales inspire parts of the plot. This engaging fantasy traces the adventures of a bookish but brave heroine.

Booklist

Tilda is an extremely likable heroine....Kids with their own physical anomalies may particularly respond to Tilda’s adventures, as will fans of the movie Brave or the How to Train Your Dragon book or movie.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Tilda is an extremely likable heroine....Kids with their own physical anomalies may particularly respond to Tilda’s adventures, as will fans of the movie Brave or the How to Train Your Dragon book or movie.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

12/01/2013
Gr 6–8—In this entertaining fantasy, 13-year-old Princess Matilda of Alder Brook yearns to abandon her royal responsibilities and run away to copy books in a cloister scriptorium or, even better, write a book of her own. Tilda never imagines how prophetic this is until she is taken hostage by her evil cousin Ivo, who is intent on wresting ownership of her castle away from her for himself. He believes it will be easy to take control of her principality because Tilda was born with a crippled foot and everyone believes she is cursed. He convinces her that no one in Alder Brook wants her as their princess. Secretly, Tilda is relieved because now she is free of her obligations and can make her own choices. With the help of Parzival, 14, a failed squire, and Judith, her loyal handmaiden, Tilda escapes, and they embark on a quest to slay dragons. During their adventures, the friends are captured and placed under a spell by a Bluebeard-like Lord who has buried seven wives and intends for Tilda to be his eighth. This fast-paced tale celebrates courage and perseverance. It refreshingly portrays Tilda as strong and intelligent yet flawed as she is forced to acknowledge her shortcomings and learn from her mistakes. Fans of Gail Carson Levine or Shannon Hale will be enchanted.—Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton

School Library Journal

A delightful middle-grade fantasy falters only in its excess of exuberance. Matilda, the 13-year-old princess of a tiny medieval fiefdom, has been lame since birth; consequently, her people consider her "cursed" and fear she will remain unwed. Tilda refuses to show any hurt; after all, she'd rather retire to a convent and write great treatises anyway. But when her only friends, her handmaid Judith and the disgraced squire Parzifal, rescue her from a kidnapping plot, Tilda decides that, rather than return home, the trio should instead begin researching her first work: a Handbook for Dragon Slayers. Dragons, however, prove to be the least of the perils ahead of her….Haskell's sophomore outing is another clever, witty and empowering tale, fluently melding historical fact and legendary material. Tilda is a splendid heroine: Wry, intelligent, sensitive and stronger than she thinks, she conceals her pain behind icy stoicism and discounts her courage and compassion as foolishness. Judith and Parz seem to be charming and supportive companions, although readers scarcely get to know them. There are simply too many intriguing characters and too many dramatic encounters for any to be explored satisfactorily. Tilda is held prisoner no less than three different times, and she faces down supernatural threats, from dragons to the Wild Hunt to an evil sorcerer, all on the way to an epiphany that completely alters her self-perception and goals. While suffering from a surfeit of events and ideas, still a truly terrific read. (Historical fantasy. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews