Pig Latin--Not Just for Pigs!: Dragon Slayer's Academy 14

Wiglaf is a young man with twelve brothers who was only too glad to be signed up in the Dragon Slayers' Academy. It meant he would get his own room and plenty to eat! The down side is that sooner or later he's going to have to learn to kill dragons, and killing isn't something he's looking forward to. Not that he hasn't killed a dragon, of course. He just did it with knock-knock jokes instead of a sword. He and his other friends, including his pet pig who only speaks in Pig Latin (Ig-pay Atin-Lay, to those of you who speak it), trek off to Erica's father's palace for a weekend vacation. Only when they reach the palace, they find the king is sick with the pox and the people are threatening revolt! It's up to Wiglaf and his friends to save the day. They call Zelnoc the Wizard in to help, but he messes up his magic spell and ends up making the king speak only in Ig-pay Atin-lay, which makes no one--including the queen--very happy. Things take a decided turn for the worse when Wiglaf's pet pig ends up in hot water in the chef's kitchen! Kate McMullan is the author of dozens of books. In addition to the Dragon Slayers' Academy book, she's also written Myth-O-Mania, the Fluffy series, and several stand-alones involving mythology and history. The Dragon Slayers' Academy books are a delight to read. Fast, funny, and full of wordplay, they capture a young reader's interest and imagination from the beginning and hang onto it till the end. The problems facing Wiglaf and his friends in this book can easily be seen by the more clever young readers, and that rewards their cleverness, bringing a double pleasure to the reading. These books are definitely for kids who want to read Harry Potter or any of the other doorstopper fantasy series out there but who can't manage that many pages or a sustained effort that demanding. McMullan has created a world and characters that are fun to drop in on and catch up on their stories. Best of all, these books can be read to beginning readers because the language is easy to understand audibly and even they can learn to enter worlds of fun and fantasy with their imaginations.

The Dragon Slayers' Academy children's book series is really fun for kids. Kids who love Harry Potter, but are maybe too young for such a big book can get started with this series, both my son and daughter, ages 8 and 10, love these and have read all of them so far. Great book to keep kids reading.