5 Marvelous Books and Series for Young Readers Who Love Dragons

The Beasts of Olympus series, by Lucy Coats
For the younger reader of 8 or 9, not yet ready for doorstoppers, Lucy Coats’ Beasts of Olympus series is spot on. And what series isn’t made better by a dragon? In the fourth book of the series, Dragon Healer, young Demon, the Beastkeeper of all the monstrous creatures who call Mount Olympus home, has to help one of his most challenging creatures of all—the dragon who guarded the Golden Fleece, who failed to protect it from Jason and Medea. The dragon himself isn’t dangerous in a fire-breathing, mayhem-causing way, but Ares wants him back in working order five minutes ago, and he’s not the sort of god you keep waiting. The dragon isn’t exactly sick or injured, either; he’s suffering from a profound sense of failure that’s wreaking havoc on his digestive system, and the gaseous result is poisoning Mount Olympus, and threatening to bring additional godly wrath onto Demon’s head.  With the help of the wise centaur Charon the dragon’s stinky problem is solved, and (in a turn I appreciate lots, because of the message that learning, both from books and from experience, is a Good Thing) Demon is given the chance to study with Charon to learn how to solve future mythological veterinary problems himself.

The Unwanteds series, by Lisa McMann
Dragons have flown into the final book of another middle grade series with the release of Island of Dragons, book 7 in the Unwanteds series, by Lisa McMann. The land of Artimé is at peace, and brothers Alex and Aaron are finally working together on the same side. Both of their gifts of magic and craftsmanship are required when they are presented with an unexpected challenge—crafting wings for a hatching of baby dragons, children of a wingless sea dragon who wants her young ones to have a way to escape danger. But dragon wings pale in comparison to the challenges of a new attack on the land of Artimé, one that might destroy all the brothers are working to achieve.
All the old friends of the previous books (and there are many of them) come together to fight for their island…but the tide of battle turns against them until the squadron of young dragons flies to their aid.  The dragons are somewhat ancillary to the plot (they don’t get quite as much page time as I would have liked!), but happily they will appear again in a forthcoming spin-off series, Unwanteds Quests, coming next spring. In the meantime, this first series is full of all the fantastic dangers young imaginative readers love, now with dragons!

A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans, by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder
One of my favorite books of last year, A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans, has a sequel—A Dragon’s Guide to Making Your Human Smarter. Winnie thinks of Miss Drake, the dragon who lives in an apartment in her great aunt’s big old house, as her pet; Miss Drake, 3000 years old, very magical, and rather testy, knows Winnie is in fact her pet. And Miss Drake takes the care of her young pet seriously, which is a good thing, as not only must Winnie navigate a new school, where half the kids are magical beings, but Winnie’s rich, powerful, and unpleasant grandfather wants to take custody of her and is looking for any reason (such as the bad influence of a magical school) to do so. This is one I recommend enthusiastically to those who like stories of ordinary kids surrounded by magic, having fantastical adventures while coping with the real life sort of problems like bullying and unpleasant relatives. Winnie and Miss Drake are both lovely characters, and it’s lots of fun to see their relationship of mutual protectiveness play out.

Dragons vs. Drones, by Wesley King
This story merges fantasy with hard science when an ordinary kid (or at least an ordinary computer genius) named Marcus passes through a portal into a world where dragons are real. Unfortunately he’s followed by an army of killer drones of mysterious origin, which set about attacking both the main city of this alternate land and any dragons that dare take to the skies against them. Marcus is befriended by Dree, a girl with an unusual talent for metalwork, and an even more unusual bond with a dragon. Dragons and humans had, just one generation ago, worked together, but then the humans turned against their former friends, hunting them almost to extinction. Now Marcus and Dree, and Dree’s dragon, join forces to defeat the drones before they destroy Dree’s home city by building a creature that is half mechanical drone, half metal dragon, and sending it into the skies to counterattack. But there’s an evil plot at work that’s behind the drone attacks, and it’s somehow connected to Marcus’ father, who disappeared from Earth years ago.
This is a great one for kids who love both technology and fantasy, and I think it’s just about the most appealing cover for this group of readers I’ve ever seen! I know from my own experience that If you look for this in a physical Barnes & Noble store, you might find it in the YA section, but there is nothing here to either diminish the enjoyment of an 11 or 12 year old, or distress parents with mature content.

The Trelian series, by Michelle Knudsen
One of my own personal favorite dragon series finally has its third and final book—The Mage of Trelian, by Michelle Knudsen, and I am jealous of the readers who haven’t yet read the first two books, The Dragon of Trelian, and The Princess of Trelian, because they get to start the series and keep right on going till the end, without being distressed by the terrible cliffhanger at the end of book 2! Meg is the titular princess, and in the first book we see her forming a lifelong bond with the baby dragon she rescued. In this world, dragons are dangerous and to be killed, so Meg is keeping her friend a secret from everyone but a boy named Calen, apprentice of Trelian’s chief mage. When Calen and Meg uncover a plot against Trelian, hatched by an evil mage with plans to destroy the world, Meg’s dragon, a formidable ally, can remain secret no longer. In the second book, Meg struggles to balance her role as royal heir with her burning desire to use her dragon to his full potential against Trelian’s enemies, and Calen in turn struggles to figure out the mysteries of his own particular brand of magic before their enemy draws even closer. And then in the third book, The Mage of Trelian, Meg and her dragon are finally fighting and training with the army (and almost getting killed), and Calen must get himself out of the most dangerous situation he could ever have imagined, so that he can get back to Trelian and bring an end to the monstrous mage once and for all.
I personally love these books not just for the gripping plot, fascinating magic, and cheer-worthy dragon, but because of the personal relationships between the characters. They care about each other, and the reader quickly comes to care about them, making the pages turn briskly both for young readers and for those of us grown-ups who love a good middle grade fantasy!
What are your favorite books about dragons for young readers?