The Adventurer's Guide to Dragons (and Why They Keep Biting Me)

June 15, 2017
In this sequel to The Adventurer's Guide to Successful Escapes (2016), Anne, Penelope, and Hiro are back for a second round of hilarity and impossible adventures.After their last quest nearly destroyed the world, the three friends are settling in at St. Lupin's Quest Academy. Their peace is shattered when a boy named Valerian steals Anne's gauntlet at the Quest Academy Awards and the trio find themselves thrown into yet another quest. Their mission is to kill the dragon queen--which is illegal and could result in war. Anne and her team don't intend to kill the queen, but Valerian is in cahoots with the Copper Knights (8-foot-tall, terrifying hunks of metal), who will stop at nothing to make sure she dies. It is up to Anne, Penelope, and Hiro to stop them. This quest takes them through a series of dizzying escapades that include searching for the legendary Three-Handed Sword, fighting for their lives in the dragon trials, and looking for a pair of eyes on the slopes of an active volcano. While White extricates the adventurers from scrapes with overly convenient solutions, readers will still find pleasure in his sense of humor. The sequel also offers more clues to Anne's mysterious background. Anne is black, Penelope is white, and Hiro appears to be Asian in Epelbaum's illustrations. Fans of the first will not be disappointed with this humorous sequel. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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July 1, 2017

Gr 3-6-Everything was going well for Anne, if you don't count her ill-fitting uniform, and she was ready to receive the award for Best Illegal Quest That Nearly Destroyed the Entire World at the Quest Academy Awards. But then suddenly, Anne unintentionally activates another Quest. And this one might be worse than the last one, since it almost certainly means war: kill the dragon queen. Anne, with her fellow students from St. Lupin Quest Academy, Penelope and Hiro, has no choice but to embark on this new adventure. They begin a strange journey into places only dragons can travel and even find themselves inside specialized robot Copper Knights. As in The Adventurer's Guide to Successful Escapes, there are strange turns and unexpected outcomes. Fans of the first novel will revel in revisiting the characters. Although this title is a stand-alone, it returns to themes from the first installment, such as Anne's attempts to learn who she is and who her family was. Anne's past remains unresolved in the end, and more Quests are sure to come. The danger and suspense are tempered by humor and tongue-in-cheek commentary offered at the beginning of each chapter as "quotes" from official sources. Readers are reminded that this Quest is somewhat scripted, as characters pull out cards such as "official antagonist" and "emergency take command." This clever plot device adds a fun backdrop against which the story unfolds. VERDICT An entertaining, swashbuckling high adventure with dragons, huge insects, and giant robots wrapped up in a humorous worst-case scenario plot; a strong choice for fantasy collections.-Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018
Anne and her fellow adventurers-in-training at Saint Lupin's Quest Academy, Penelope and Hiro, are just back from their first quest (�cf2]The Adventurer's Guide to Successful Escapes�cf1]) when they must set out again, this time to slay the dragon queen. Although there's plenty of humor, plot twists, and nonstop action, at times it all feels rushed. The ending promises another installment.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)