A Dragon's Guide to Making Your Human Smarter - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Laurence Yep is a two-time Newbery Honor winner, a recipient of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He is the author of more than sixty books, including the Isabelle American Girl titles and A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans, which he cowrote with his wife, Joanne Ryder. Joanne has published over seventy books and received numerous awards for her nature writing and poetry.

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CHAPTER ONE

Unless you are willing to keep your pet safe and make your pet smarter, collect stamps instead.

MISS DRAKE

I thought Winnie looked quite fetching in her new uniform and said so.

She drew her eyebrows together in puzzlement. “Fetching?”

“Pretty, winsome--like your name,” I explained.

She plucked at the hem of her blue-and-black plaid skirt. “You don’t think the uniforms are sort of old-fashioned?”

“It speeds up socialization when you can skip criticizing one another’s clothes and can go directly to criticizing one another’s characters,” I said. “Just be grateful you’re not wearing bloomers.”

The wrinkled forehead again. “Bloomers?”

“They were pants girls used to wear in physical education. They made you look like you were wearing a deflated balloon,” I said.

She sighed. “Sometimes I need subtitles when you talk.”

“Don’t be silly,” I said. “The whole point of going to school is to learn enough so you can understand me.”

“I still say subtitles would be easier,” she said, and pointed at the tablet in my hand. “After school, when I come back, I’ll find a translation app for you.”

I raised my tablet out of her reach. “The last time I let you touch my tablet, I got it back full of games.”

Winnie was an impudent little thing. “You need to have more fun. You don’t smile enough. You look beautiful when you smile.”

“A dragon is beautiful simply by being a dragon,” I sniffed. “It should be obvious.”

The corner of Winnie’s mouth crooked up skeptically. “Of course.”

Though it may be unusual for a dragon to have a pet human, I enjoy doing so. I pride myself on training them well.

Sarcasm does not become a pet and I would normally have corrected her attitude, but it was just before her first day at the Spriggs Academy. “Now run along. You don’t want to be late.”

Still she lingered. “I’ll be home before you know it.”

“I’ll count the minutes,” I said drily.

Winnie took me literally, though. “I’ll miss you too.” And she wrapped her arms around as much of me as she could. “This has been the best summer ever.”

I patted her carefully on the back, because naturals are such fragile little things. “It’s been the best summer for me too.”

When she stepped away, I saw that she had hugged me so tightly that my scales had left faint impressions on her cheek. “I put those other games on your tablet so you could play them while I’m gone. I know you’ve been doing them, because I check your scores when you aren’t looking.” She added, “You’re getting better, but you’re not up to my level yet.”

“You’ve got some nerve.” We could definitely use some time apart.

She started to open the door but then turned around. “Will I really be okay at Spriggs?”

It was my turn to misunderstand. Her grandfather Jarvis had been trying to take Winnie away from her mother, Liza. Winnie’s schooling had been haphazard as a result.

“You’re smart,” I assured her. “You’ll fill any gaps in your education in no time, and if you’re having problems, tell me and we’ll hire the best tutors.”

She frowned. “No, I mean I’m a human, but a lot of kids there will be magicals.”

I raised a claw, and to her credit, Winnie didn’t even flinch. Gently, I rubbed out the lines my scales had left on her face. “Spriggs is for both naturals and magicals.” The naturals were usually the children of families who did business with the magicals, and for the last five generations, Spriggs had been preparing both for an oftenunkind world. “And you come from a family famous among magicals.”

She wrinkled her forehead a third time. “What’s my family famous for?”

“Being friends with me, of course,” I said.

She rolled her eyes--at least that was more like her usual self. “Why don’t I just make a sign and wear it?” Her fingers traced the invisible words. “I know Miss Drake.”

“A sensible suggestion,” I said, opening the door with one paw and shoving her outside with the other. “But it’s not in the dress code.”

My apartment is hidden in the mansion’s basement, where my front door opens on what looks like an old, unused storage room.

I listened to Winnie’s steps fade, slow and reluctant at first but then quicker--as if she had finally worked up the courage to face the day.

As I said, I was looking forward to having time alone, but I had much to do before she left our house. I glanced again at the warning that my lawyer and friend, Dylis, had emailed me yesterday.

Now that Winnie’s grandfather Jarvis can’t seek custody of her because her mother is no longer poor, I’ve heard rumors that he’s either hired someone to grab his granddaughter or uncovered something else he can use to get her instead. Stick close to her until I can find out more.

Dylis had moles everywhere, and she claimed that, as a dwarf, she knew good dirt from bad. So I took all her warnings seriously.

I forwarded the email to my foxy friend and computer geek, Reynard, and added the question:

Can you help?

Reynard was at his computer as usual. Naturally.

Do it. Find out who and what I’m up against.

After enlisting one of the cleverest beings I knew, it was time to take the next step.

Jarvis thought he could still pick on Winnie and her mother. He didn’t realize that they had a dragon on their side.

Winnie

Dragons are the most fun you’ll ever have, and dragons are the most trouble too, especially one as grumpy as Miss Drake. My family has owned her for five generations now, and so far we’d kept her from biting anyone’s head off--at least that we knew about.

I always thought that Great-Aunt Amelia had been making up stories in her letters about Miss Drake, so I didn’t know what to believe when I got her last one. Not only was the dragon real, but my aunt wanted me to take care of her precious pet!

Great-Aunt Amelia was so old that at first I thought she had begun to think her imaginary adventures had actually happened. But when I went to the hidden apartment in the basement,there was Miss Drake--scales, bad temper, and all.

Still, no matter how mean Miss Drake talked, I could always get her to show her marshmallow side. Shetook me flying, and we’d had all sorts of super adventures together. Though I’d only met her a month ago, I felt like we’d been together all my life--maybe because of all the stories...