Review: Dealing with Dragons

By Patricia Wrede

Harcourt; 2002; 240 pages

Tween Fiction;

Grades: 5-9

ISBN: 978-0-152-04566-1

Cimorene is not your normal princess. She is not typically pretty, she likes to swordfight, and the only thing she can cook is Cherries Jubilee. So, she runs away from home to live with a dragon, and does NOT want to be rescued! While living with Kazul, her dragon, the wizards try to steal dragon magic, and it is up to Cimorene to save the day!

My Thoughts:
This is an absolutely enchanting and amazing book! It is a wittily written novel that takes a new spin on the fantasy genre. For example, the witch character Morwen cannot be melted with water, but wizards can...provided the water is soapy. Also, the wizards are not magical, but rather their staff leaches magic from the magical beings around them. The characters are all fully developed, the action moves along at a quick pace, and the plot takes unexpected by pleasant twists and turns. I was glad to learn that it was the first in a series because I was definitely not tired of Cimorene, Kazul, and Morwen at the end.

I felt that this was also a great book for tweens, since it is too advanced for younger kids, but doesn't have ANY objectionable material, such as what is often found in the cutting edge teen literature. Most importantly, Cimorene is a great role model for tween girls who are having to adjust physically, emotionally, and socially to the world around them. She is a strong woman, who embraces being herself, and positively influences the environment and people that surround her.

The Thoughts of Others:
Sally Estes wrote a review for Booklist in 1990. She also had a positive reaction to the book. She noted Wrede's "witty playfulness" and summed the book up as "a decidedly diverting novel with plenty of action and many slightly skewed fairy-tale conventions that add to the laugh-out-loud reading pleasure and give the story a wide appeal."

Kirkus Review's 1990 opinion of the novel praised the feminist viewpoint, which it noted was not carried out with a heavy hand. It appreciated that "both Cimorene and her dragon are firmly drawn, tough-minded females who refuse to conform to stereotypes (being female doesn't prevent a dragon from becoming king)."