Sunday, April 13, 2014

‘Handbook for Dragon Slayers’ by Merrie Haskell

Book cover: Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell. A young woman, seated on a horse, looks up at a dragon flying overhead.
Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell (Harper, 2013) features a heroine constrained by social expectations at odds with her own ambitions. As a princess, Tilda will one day rule the holding of Alder Brook. More than anything, however, she wants to be a scholar and a writer of books.

Compounding her troubles are the surreptitious wardings against the “evil eye” directed at Tilda by her subjects because she has a misshapen foot.

The story of how Tilda finds her peace and achieves her desires is sure to inspire readers. Handbook for Dragon Slayers is the 2014 recipient of the Schneider Family Book Award, ages 11 to 13 division, for its portrayal of the experience of a person with a disability.

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