Dragon Rider

By Cornelia Funke

I admit, I haven't actually "read" this book yet. However, I have listened to the book on CD and fell in love with it immediately ... or was it just because the story is read by Brendan Fraser (he's a great storyteller)? The book is written for kids, but easily enjoyable as an adult too.

I liked it because it was a story of fantastical creatures (dragons, dwarves, mannekins, brownies, etc) in a modern world. A young dragon is sent on a quest to find The Rim of Heaven - a place told of in stories, where dragon's can go and rest without worry of ever being discovered by the humans. Unfortunately, there are only very faint memories about this place, and there are definitely no directions on where to look for the Rim of Heaven. They set out to find Gilbert - a master cartographer, who happens to be a city rat - in the hopes that he can help them find the way. As it turns out, they are not the only ones looking for the Rim of Heaven. It is while in the city that they meet an orphan boy named Ben who joins them in their search. Faulty map-reading lands the trio in one of the yellow "danger zones" where they encounter some mountain dwarves. It is here that the villainous, Nettlebrand, learns of their quest (thanks to the betrayal of a certain greedy mountain dwarf) and is immediately driven to hunt down Firedrake. Nettlebrand sends his armorcleaner, Twigleg, to spy on the others and report their progress on the journey. Their adventures lead them across the world, meeting a Djinn, a very friendly professor with a fountain of knowledge of all things mythical (a great help to them), a basilisk, and another member of the Greytail family, Lola.

Not wanting to give ALL the fun stuff away, all I can say is that it's a fun read