Elizabeth Haydon Rocks!

By Cheryl Henderson -

While in the children's section of the library my eye fell upon a book entitled "The Dragon's Lair (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme)" As I am a fantasy reader and was looking for something light to enjoy I picked it up for myself … and fell in love. The book is set up as a restoration of archeological records and they tell the story of Ven Polypheme as he goes through his life as an explorer, adventurer, and journalist for the High King.

As has been my misfortune of late, I began the series at the end – "The Dragon's Lair" is actually Book 3 in this series. The other two books are "The Thief Queen's Daughter (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme)"– Book 2 -- and "The Floating Island (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme)" – Book 1. Because I do have younger children I checked to see if audiobooks had been created for the series, but not as of today.

The story itself is fast-paced, sometimes funny, sometimes scary, but always interesting. I'm sure that boys (even boys who aren't really sure if books are cool or not) will enjoy the series. The scary parts aren't too scary for the little ones and the moral ambiguities of life are intriguing enough for older children to ponder without steam pouring from their ears. But what I like most about these books is that she includes a curriculum in the back of each one. She covers composition, art, cartography and other subjects in a fun manner, using her characters to take the sting out of "school work".

Here's one example of her Reader's Guide:

"II. Gated Cities and Penal Colonies – B. What is a penal colony and why would a government want to use one? Look up some examples and read about them. Then draw a vertical line down a sheet of paper and make two columns, one for good and one for bad results. List why you think the penal colony system was a good idea on the left, and a bad one on the right. Then decide overall whether you would have used a penal colony if you were a king long ago." – The Thief Queen's Daughter, p. 315

In her book "The Dragon's Lair" she includes art projects as well as science and other cross-curricular activities. I think that this would be a great addition to the homeschooling community library since she does such a good job of making the reader think and apply the story to the world that we live in today.

My daughter, Jade is going to read the book once she finishes with her latest omnibus so I'll be sure to share her 8 (almost 9) year old point of view too! And be on the lookout for Book 4 coming soon!

Now, back to Percy Jackson … but that's another post!

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