The Fire Within by Chris d'Lacey

D'Lacey, Chris. The Fire Within. New York: Scholastic, 2001.

Wanted: One Tenant. Must love Dragons.

David Rain marks that peculiar request as simple eccentricity on the part of the advertiser. The rent suits him, so he moves in with Liz Pennykettle and her daughter Lucy. Liz is a potter and makes clay dragons. As a house-warming present, Liz presents David with his own dragon. David's dragon, whom he names Gadzooks, is a story writing dragon. Although David enjoys life in the Pennykettle home, he begins to wonder about the dragons. The house is always warm, but there are no radiators. Liz doesn't have a kiln in her studio. Could the dragons be real? As Gadzooks help David write a story for Lucy, he can't help but wonder that very same thing.

What I thought: I have 4 words for you: I want a dragon. What a delightful book! The way Liz and Lucy let David know just enough about the dragons to keep him from being overtly curious kept me as a reader wanted to know more about the dragons. The author is British. The book itself is set in Massachusetts and yet the book has a distinctly British flavor (word choice, expressions, etc.). I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series.