Falcon's Egg

Artfully braiding together real life and fantasy, Gray begins this inviting first novel as her 11-year-old heroine, Falcon, finds a scarlet egg in Central Park. As Falcon deliberates what she should do, Gray serves up one of the many endearing nuggets in her narrative: ""She knew that you must never take an egg from a nest, but she wasn't sure about eggs without nests; grownups had so many rules that you didn't know about until you broke them."" Falcon chooses to bring the egg home, and shares her discovery only with several carefully selected adults: her neighbor Ardene; her great-great-aunt, Emily; and an ornithologist Emily knows. After these self-proclaimed Friends of Egg spend months keeping vigil over the egg, it finally hatches-and out pops a creature that Aunt Emily, drawing on her own experiences, identifies as a dragon. Gray gently contrasts Falcon's devotion to Egg with an insightful, light-handed depiction of Falcon's relationships with her divorced parents, well-meaning but disorganized Missy, who saddles Falcon with undue responsibility for her younger brother, and Peter, who spends most of his time traveling. In an affecting conclusion, the girl sets the beloved dragon free as family and friends look on. An imaginative and meaningful tale, told with flair. Ages 8-12. (Aug.)