★★★★☆ Ramona Qimby meets a dragon

The Tears of a Dragon

Intisar Khanani

OK, that title is a lie. Intisar Khanani's The Tears of a Dragon is not really about Beverly Cleary's Ramona Quimby meeting a dragon.

Or is it?

The Tears of a Dragon is a novella in Khanani's Dauntless Path series. It immediately follows The Bone Knife. Both stories concern a family in rural Menaiya. The father trains horses and has three daughters: Niya, Rae, and Bean. Bean, the putative Ramona of this family, is the youngest. In The Bone Knife the sisters helped a visiting Elf, Genno Stonmane, and he gave each of them a gift. Bean's gift was a small stone horse, which she wears on a thong around her neck.

A troop of soldiers visits their village, and the gossip is that they have captured a baby dragon, whom they plan to use as bait to kill the mother. Bean is outraged and drags her sisters into a ill-planned raid to rescue the baby dragon.

It's a good little story. Since Cleary is no longer with us, it's nice to be reminded of Ramona.

The Tears of a Dragon on Amazon

Goodreads review

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