Dragonslayer Event at Newton Free Library

I’m really lucky that Tui T. Sutherland lives near me because my son is her biggest fan. He started reading her books in 6th grade when a girl at his table recommended it. We’ve had the great pleasure of going to three of her book events so far.

My son has mostly read books by Rick Riordan with a smattering of Gordon Korman. He also likes Stuart Gibbs FunJungle series but refused to read his Spy School series. My son is also a fan of graphic novels, including Big Nate.

But it was Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series that really hit his mark. This is his D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) kind of book. Now that he’s in high school, he gets enough assigned reading that I don’t push for him to read like I used to.

It was nice to see him willing to attend a book event and wait in line for more than an hour to get his book signed. One thing that struck me from Tui’s book event is how wide the range her fan base is. There were kids in first and second grade up through high school and possibly college.

I can understand why her series works for all ages. Her books are exciting; she really has a knack for developing characters and her plot lines are fast-paced and incredibly creative. It’s like she sets up every chapter to end up on a cliff hanger. The series also centers around a different dragon for each book. And there are many different kinds of dragon species, usually at war with each other. This makes for exciting storylines.

Her newest book centers around humans who have been in past books as minor characters, scrabbling out a life despite dragon dominance in this fantasy world-building.

My son has read and reread the Wings of Fire series. Two books generally come out per year and we pre-order them. He also enjoys the graphic novel versions of the books. We also pre-order them. I hope he never outgrows the joys of reading Wings of Fire!

How about you? Do your kids have a D.E.A.R. author or series? Thanks for sharing!

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