Dragonhaven

Starred review from August 20, 2007
Set in a world nearly identical to our own—except for the existence of Draco australiensis
(gigantic, reclusive, fire-breathing dragons who raise their infants in marsupial-like pouches)—this big, ambitious novel marks a departure of sorts for Newbery Medalist McKinley, whose previous works take place either in the realm of fairy tale and legend (Spindle’s End
) or the magical land of Damar (The Hero and the Crown
). But fans will instantly recognize its protagonist, the tightly wound and solitary Jake, as classic McKinley. On his first-ever solo expedition in remotest Smokehill (the Wyoming dragon preserve and national park where he was raised), Jake stumbles across the single surviving newborn of a female dragon slaughtered by a poacher. Jake takes on the challenge of raising the orphaned creature, describing the process in minute and loving detail (“She was hopeless as a lapdog—the wrong shape, and she was too thick-bodied to curl properly—but she’d lie pretty contentedly on my bare feet, or behind my ankles—that’s when
she was willing… to lie down at all. She went on wanting skin , and she still spent nights lying against my stomach”). When Jake attempts to reintroduce the dragon to her own species, a brave new era of dragon-human relations begins. One quibble: because Jake tells the story as a memoir, some climactic moments tend to be relayed at arm’s length. On balance, McKinley renders her imagined universe so potently that readers will wish they could book their next vacation in Smokehill. Ages 12-up.

September 1, 2007
Gr 7 Up-A novel set in an alternate contemporary world. Viewing dragons as fire-breathing, non-sentient animals with gigantic appetites for livestock, humans have hunted them for centuries, and now they survive only in a few wilderness havens. Jake Mendoza has grown up at one such haven, the Smokehill National Park in the American West, and has inherited his scientist parents' commitment to the park's secret inhabitants. When he rescues an orphaned baby dragon, he sets in motion a cascade of events that may eventually save these top predators from extinction. Readers will find the book to be less about the joys of the human-dragon bond and more about the challenges of raising an infant and communicating in a vastly different language. As an exhausted Jake explains, he is the first human in history to find out that a marsupial baby dragon out of its mother's pouch still expects a round-the-clock source of food, warmth, and company for over a year. Also, their telepathic communication gives Jake and his fellow Smokehill residents debilitating head-aches, and no one on either side is ever entirely sure they've got the message right. Once readers get through Jake's overdone teenage diction in the first few chapters, they will be engaged by McKinley's well-drawn characters and want to root for the Smokehill community's fight to save the ultimate endangered species."Beth Wright, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, VT"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2007
In a departure from McKinleys prior work, which includes high fantasies like her Newbery Medal book, The Hero and the Crown (1984), this novels contemporary U.S. setting feels like a curveball. Soon enough, though, McKinley reveals a distinctly fantastical aspect of the nature preserve run by the father of narrator Jake: its devoted to Draco australiensis, among the last of the worlds elusive dragons. Jake, an aspiring scientist himself, dangerously challenges presiding theories about how humans and dragons ought to relate when he secretly (and illegally) raises an orphaned dragonlet. McKinley offers a compelling premise, portraying the demands and rewards of Jakes foster-parenting with particular clarity; however, the central plotlines frequently feel lost in the tangled digressions of Jakes stream-of-consciousness narrative. Offer this to teens interested in environmental issues and animal ethics, who will admire its offbeat eco-adventure angle, and to patient, thoughtful YAs, who will side with passionate Jake for both his capable intelligence and his willingness to entertain world-detonating new ideas.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)