Long before Eragon, there was another story written about a dragon rider…
Cornelia Funke penned Dragon Rider in 1997 in German and it was later translated into English after American readers discovered her books The Thief Lord and Inkheart. Dragon Rider is a thrilling and utterly charming middle grade fantasy. It brings together a boy, a brownie, a dragon, and other fabulous creatures as they travel halfway around the world on a quest. The charismatic characterization, abundant adventure, humor, and top-notch narration make it irresistable. (In fact, it was one of the first books my son read after he graduated from chapter books and it hooked him completely. He found the the brownie’s antics hilarious.)
Narrated by Brenden Fraser, the audio version of this book is a home-run. Mr. Fraser created unique voices for each of the characters and he is so brilliant, you will hardly recognize him as the reader at times.
Boys, girls, young, old–this is a book that anyone can fall in love with.
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 1 mild obscenity.
Violence/Gore: Verbal threat to do harm; several verbal threats by magical creature to eat other magical creatures and humans; reports of magical creatures and animals being hunted/killed/eaten in the past; a couple of instances where magical creatures are destroyed with magic, non-detailed; characters chased and hunted by magical creature who intends to eat/kill them; destruction of property, no casualties; stones thrown and they hit animals.
Sex/Nudity: None
Mature Subject Matter:
None
Alcohol / Drug Use:
None