Snapdragon and the Odyssey of Élan (Fairy Chronicles) - Softcover

Sweet, J.H

Softcover

ISBN 10: 140221331X ISBN 13: 9781402213311

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2009

Synopsis

Inside you is the power to do anything

If a dragon decides to be peaceful, who will look out for it? Why, fairies of course!

Élan is a peaceful dragon. But in order to become an adult, he must make a dangerous journey to find a beautiful jewel for Queen Elektra, the leader of the dragons. How will a very nice dragon get past the four fearsome monsters that guard the jewel?

Well, it always helps to have fairy friends, and Snapdragon will lead a team to help the young dragon become an adult without hurting even a single monster!

What if you discovered you had magical fairy powers? Meet the girls of The Fairy Chronicles, otherwise normal girls like you with special gifts. Their extraordinary adventures will change the world!

Read all of The Fairy Chronicles books:

Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins
Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams
Thistle and the Shell of Laughter
Firefly and the Quest of the Black Squirrel
Spiderwort and the Princess of Haiku
Periwinkle and the Cave of Courage
Cinnabar and the Island of Shadows
Mimosa and the River of Wisdom
Primrose and the Magic Snowglobe
Luna and the Well of Secrets
Dewberry and the Lost Chest of Paragon
Moonflower and the Pearl of Paramour

About this title

About the Author:

J. H. Sweet has always looked for the magic in the everyday. She has an imaginary dog named Jellybean Ebenezer Beast. Her hobbies include hiking, photography, knitting, and basketry. J.H. Sweet lives with her husband in South Texas and has a degree in English from Texas State University.

Holly Sierra's illustrations are visually enchanting with particular attention to decorative, mystical, and multicultural themes. Holly received her fine arts education at SUNY Purchase in New York and lives in Myrtle Beach with her husband, Steve, and their three children, Gabrielle, Esme, and Christopher.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Excerpt from Chapter One: Spring Break

Spring break from school was supposed to be restful and relaxing. Unfortunately, for Bettina Gregory, spring break was one of the busiest weeks of year. The first weekend had been somewhat quiet. Bettina had spent most of it reading, cleaning her room, and helping her mother in the garden. First, they uncovered iris and daffodil bulbs that had
been protected with mulch for the winter. Then they planted several new bushes.

On Monday, Bettina met up with several of her friends and her Girls Club sponsor, Mrs. Renquist. Together, they cleaned up a two-mile stretch of country highway that their Girls Club Chapter had adopted for regular litter clean up.

Bettina was happy to help keep the roads clean in her area, though it was hard to believe that some people still littered. She couldn't understand why others weren't as proud as she was to live in such a beautiful place, and why road trashers didn't have more respect for the earth. The types of things the girls were picking up were obviously not blown-away trash items. Most of the junk had been thrown out of car windows or deliberately dumped.

Having been thoroughly tired out by the highway clean up venture, Bettina was looking forward to slightly less strenuous activities for the rest of the week. Little did she know that she was going to be in for an exciting and extremely active adventure.

Beginning Tuesday, Mrs. Renquist had arranged for Bettina to have a two-night sleepover with one of her friends, Hope Valdez, at Mrs. Renquist's house. On Wednesday morning, the girls would be attending a special celebration called Fairy Circle.

In addition to being just like other young girls, Bettina and Hope were also fairies, and had been given unique fairy spirits. Fairies were tasked with the job of protecting nature and fixing problems, so Bettina and many of her friends stayed extremely busy with fairy activities all year long.

Bettina was blessed with a snapdragon fairy spirit. As a fairy, Snapdragon wore an orange and yellow dress made of furled snapdragon petals that came to just above her knees. She also had tall, wispy orange wings and short, curly, light brown hair. In the belt of her dress, she carried a small pouch of pixie dust, the fairy handbook, and her wand.

Fairy wands came in many different varieties. They could be made from almost any object and were bewitched to help fairies perform magic. Snapdragon's wand was a black boar bristle that was spiraled like a corkscrew.

Each fairy was given a unique gift that was like a strength or specialty. Snapdragon's special fairy gift included fierceness and speed. The snapdragon flower was named because the mouth of the flower resembled the mouth of a dragon, and Snapdragon's fairy gift came from this likeness. She could fiercely defend against attack, if necessary; and she could fly very fast, just like a speedy dragon.

Hope was a luna moth fairy. In fairy form, she had glowing, pale green wings and wore a shimmering, soft green dress. Luna carried a prickly pear cactus thorn wand, but she never used it because her special fairy gift was the ability to perform magic without a wand. She also had amazingly keen eyesight.

Each young fairy was assigned a mentor to act as a teacher and supervisor. Mentors guided young fairies' actions to help them learn how to use their powers properly.

Mrs. Renquist was a swallowtail butterfly fairy and acted as Snapdragon's mentor.
Madam Swallowtail had magnificent black wings with ivory eyespots. She wore a satiny black dress and carried a white clover blossom wand that looked like a tiny fireworks explosion. Madam Swallowtail's special fairy gift involved strength and endurance. This gift was common to all butterfly and moth fairies.

Luna's mentor was Mrs. Thompson, a finch fairy. Madam Finch was also a Girls Club sponsor. She too was staying with Madam Swallowtail for a few days while her house was being painted.

On the first night of the sleepover, both Luna and Snapdragon talked excitedly about their special Fairy Circle meeting scheduled for the next day. Luna had received a nut message over the weekend from another fairy friend, Primrose. Nut messages were hollowed-out nuts that fairies used to send notes and letters to one another. Birds and animals usually delivered the messages.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 140221331X
• ISBN 13: 9781402213311
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128
• Illustrator: Sierra Holly