The Fire Within by Chris d'Lacey

The Fire Within by Chris d'Lacey is about a college student called David moving into a house lived by a mother and her daughter. David was a college student and was in desperate need to find a roof he could live under and found the Pennykettles. Liz is the mother of Lucy Pennykettle and she is a potter. Liz made dragons out of clay and David thought Liz was fascinated by dragons. Or so he thought. Lucy, however, was interested in squirrels living in their backyard; especially Conker. David is encouraged to write a story about Conker and his friends with a help of Gadzooks, a dragon Liz made for him. But things take a turn for the endangered lives of Conker and his friends. And he finds something very surprising about the Pennykettles. What was the secret? What happens to Conker and his friends? Is David able to survive with the Pennykettles? I recommend this book to the ones who are interested in squirrels and dragons. This book takes unexpected turns throughout the story and it was quite interesting to read it. The book fits under the genre of fantasy and some realistic fiction. (Ahyun Grade 8)

Rating: 4/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 1/5