Customer Reviews

The Dragons of Spratt, Ohio

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Salt, a seventh grader who is the caretaker of nine dragons in Spratt, Ohio, says the dragons are the best thing that ever happened to him. He talks of almost nothing else. What a shock it is when his sinister aunt decapitates one of his dragons to use its blood in anti-wrinkle face cream. If this book was targeting a young adult audience, the loss of the dragon may have been less of a shock, but the dragons are like pets to Salt. The intentional killing of one of them is a harsh surprise. In the second half of the book the story does get interesting, and the ending is satisfying. It wasn't a bad story, but the aunt's grisly actions knocked the wind out of me as a reader, and that kept it from being the "rollicking" and "hilarious at times" adventure I was expecting it to be.

I had a talk with someone the other day about trends in children's literature. At the time we were discussing the current pirate craze enveloping children everywhere. My friend was trying to convince me that the next big thing for kids was going to be cowboys. I remained incredulous. One thing we could both agree on, however, was the fact that children everywhere are head-over-heels in love with dragons. I can't put a new dragon book on my library shelves without it disappearing within the hour. Children simply cannot get enough of them. When my attention was drawn to the somewhat obscure, "The Dragons of Spratt, Ohio", I found that finally I had something else to recommend to those kids hungry for books along the lines of "Dragon Rider", "Eragon", "Dragonsong", and so on.

Salt has a fairly unique job for a boy of Ohio. He works on a kind of Midwestern Serengeti. Being the child of a large-animal vet and the Director of the International Center for the Preservation of Wildlife (or, simply, The Wilds), Salt has always had the chance to work with such exotic animals as ostriches, zebras, egrets, rhinos, giraffes, oryxes, etc. Now he has a chance to work with dragons as well. By the sheerest piece of luck, a female Chinese flying dragon has taken up residence at The Wilds and has laid her eggs. Salt and his family are delighted at this new addition and things couldn't be going better. Sure, the boy isn't popular at school and his best friend's twin, Candi, is always harping on him about his appearance. Candi has problems of her own though. She's brilliant and trying to hide it so that she'll still be considered one of the cool kids. All this comes to a head when Salt's Aunt Mary Athena, the famous Paris beautician, arrives just as the kid's parents head out of town to save The Wilds' funding. Aunt Mary seems interested not at all in day-to-day life on the preserve, but mention dragons around her and suddenly you have her full interest. It seems Aunt Mary's come to The Wilds with a plan for these dragons Salt loves so much. A plan that involves a chainsaw.

Yeah, the chainsaw. It's hard to get around it. Right smack dab in the middle of this book there's a sudden gruesome chainsawing of a perfectly innocent critter. To be frank, I don't think it's out-of-place or jars with the general story at large, but then again I wasn't shocked in the least to read a review on Amazon that expressed horror at that moment. It really does take you by surprise and is, quite frankly, gross. As an author, Ms. Zinnen probably would have done better to have made this a little less horrific. Then again, if ever a book needed a this-is-the-bad-guy moment, here it is. What the scene does is limit the age group appropriate for this title. Parents of five-year-olds will be far less inclined to read this story to their brood if they know that adorable little Blackie gets sawed into smithereens on page 107.

What the book does right is capture the excitement that comes from observing animals in the wild. Salt takes meticulous notes of the dragons' growth and progress. Any child that is already a fan of "Dr. Ernest Drake's Dragonology", by Dugald Steer or even James' Gurney's, "Dinotopia" will instantly bond with a book that's so careful to check dragon spoor for traces of worms. The matter-of-fact tone taken with the arrival of a Chinese dragon at The Wilds comes from this being a world in which dragons have been discovered like any rare species. If you've a child who likes books in which new animals are found (as in this story), you might want to check out the flawed but still interesting, "Search For the Golden Moon Bear" by Sy Montgomery.

As for the plot itself, it's fine. Kids will have to choke back initial revulsion with the character of Candi, the girl who is instantly brilliant without earning her smarts. Talk about unfair. Fortunately she improves slightly as the story goes on. Salt is a very likable hero and Aunt Mary is evil incarnate. It all adds up to an amusing tale that is surprisingly little known in I-love-dragon circles. According to the book's Author's Note, there really is an International Center for the Preservation for Wildlife in southern Muskingum County, Ohio. Kids who enjoy this book should definitely bug their parents for a trip. It's a nice little story and, with the exception of a sudden horror-film chainsaw moment, a great one for all ages. Lovely writing, lovely story, and lovely plotting.

John "Salt" Salt is your average kid, with your not-so-average pet. For Salt is the proud owner of nine baby dragons, of which are living behind his house, where he takes the best care ever of them. However, not everyone in Spratt, Ohio is a fan of the dragons. In fact, someone in the close-knit community is planning on doing the dragons harm. Now it's up to Salt and one of his least favorite people in the world, Candi Clark, to save the dragons before they truly end up...extinct.

As a huge fan of all things dragons, I have been anxiously anticipating the release of Linda Zinnen's THE DRAGONS OF SPRATT, OHIO, and I am happy to say that I couldn't have enjoyed it more. Salt's love for animals is inspiring, and as an animal lover, I found it very easy to connect with his personality. While the other characters found throughout the novel are also quite interesting, and possess their own minor quirks. Filled with adventure, dragons, rescues, and a teensy bit of romance, this book is sure to appeal to both male and female middle readers. Especially those who are big-time animal lovers.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper