gardenofthepurpledragon

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Garden of the Purple Dragon

Carole Wilkinson

Wilkinson, Carole. Garden Of The Purple Dragon. Scholastic INC. New York. 2008.

Garden Of The Purple Dragon is a heartwarming children’s story about friendship and happiness. It is another one of Carole Wilkinson’s fantastic stories of wonder and magic. The book brings the reader into a new world to explore. Being Carole’s most recent book, many believe it is by far the best.

Just when Tommy was beginning to feel at home in South Carolina, he finds out that his family has to move, again. Tommy loved having a U.S. Marine for a dad but moving all the time was starting to get old. It always seemed like the town they moved to was worse than the last one; that was until they moved to Bremerton, Washington. Tommy finds Bremerton amazing. There are rivers to swim in and trees to climb on, but best of all is the bamboo garden outside his house.

Tommy spends hours playing in the garden. He feels there is something magical about it, something that he can’t find anywhere else. One day, while Tommy is playing in the garden, he has a strange encounter with an odd creature, a miniature dragon named Apophis. It tells Tommy that the dragon world is being destroyed and only the Golden Dragon can save it. The problem is that only the chosen one can find the Golden Dragon, and that Tommy is the chosen one. Tommy wants to go with the little dragon, but to do so he must shrink down, and if they fail he will never be normal size again. Tommy decides to take the chance, so the dragon shrinks him down.

Apophis takes Tommy to the dragon world where he has five days to save the land. Tommy left on his travels with great courage, but by the third day the storms had come and he was beginning to feel cold and alone. Tommy wandered aimlessly for hours, slowly losing hope. Thinking that he had failed he sat and began to cry, and that's when he saw it: the strongest dragon in the world, the Golden Dragon.

Garden Of The Purple Dragon is a wonderful story that all youngsters should read. Many believe that it will go down as a classic story that will be remembered forever. This is another strong, indulging book by Carole Wilkinson who’s career is really starting to blossom.

4 out of 5 stars

Contributed by L.M. Huggins

May 5th 2011