Dragon Dreams

Princesses and dragons—perennial favorites—coexist with some discord in this first installment of the Royal Princess Academy series from literary agent and author Rennert (Buying, Training, and Caring for Your Dinosaur). Despite Emma’s royal lineage (Snow White was her great-great-grandmother), she maintains that she’s “the most un-princess-y princess in the world!” Hardly a model student at the academy, she sets off a chain of mishaps when she sneezes during Royal Table Manners class, makes a cake that erupts like a volcano, and prefers to read books rather than balance them on her head in Princess Posture class. Emma is much more interested in owning a pet dragon and joining the Royal Dragon Guard. The pace slows as Emma embarks on a somewhat convoluted mission to discover why the kingdom’s dragons are sickly. Florian’s (A Day with Mommy) halftone art underscores Emma’s feistiness and puts a humorous spin on her princess gaffes. Though Emma is an unconventional princess, her adventures are rather ordinary; still, readers who share her rough-and-tumble nature should find her a winning role model. Ages 6–8. (Sept.)