Sign of the Dove (Dragon Chronicles)

After drinking the dragon's milk, Lyn becomes responsible for for the recovery of the last of the draclings that have hatched in human hands and must bring them to the one mighty dragon who will take them safely back to their dragon kyn.

Grade 5-7?Fans of Fletcher's Dragon's Milk (1989) and Flight of the Dragon Kyn (1993, both Atheneum) will welcome this return to Elythia, while new readers will be inspired to seek out other titles in the series. Once again, dragons are threatened by bounty hunters and a young girl must find a way to lead them to safety. The heroine this time is Lyf, Kaeldra's frail foster sister. Fletcher frames her tale with the comments of a sly harper, a device that adds humor and suspense to the telling as well as offers a glimpse of Lyf's fate after the adventures are over. The story itself is fast paced and features a multiplicity of characters and events. While characterization of minor players is sometimes tantalizingly brief, it's a measure of the author's skill that many readers would prefer to linger with her lively creations, especially the young dragons. Lyf's development from a cosseted child to a determined, self-reliant protector of those in need takes place gradually and believably, while her unique talent (an ability to enter the consciousness of birds) plays an important part in the tale's resolution. Youngsters will appreciate the fact that despite the presence of caring and helpful adults, it is Lyf, Kaeldra's young son Owyn, and other children who effect the ultimate deliverance of the threatened draclings. Given the perennial popularity of the subject matter and Fletcher's engagingly accessible style, this book should be popular in most libraries.?Lisa Dennis, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 5^-7. Fletcher's fantasy follows the exploits of Lyf, whose life was saved by dragon's milk in Dragon's Milk (1989). Here, Lyf's older foster sister, Kaeldra, is in hiding while trying to save the few remaining dragon mothers and their recent hatchlings. Like Kaeldra, Lyf is threatened by the queen's forces, who are killing the dragons for their hearts. Sent to stay with Kaeldra and other family members, Lyf soon finds herself, after the group is betrayed, on her own, reluctantly in charge of Kaeldra's young son and a group of lively, engaging draclings. Eluding pursuers, sometimes barely, Lyf leads her charges in search of help from people who indicate their support of dragons through the sign of the dove on their houses and, along the hazardous way, learns she is courageous and self-sufficient. Once again, Fletcher, whose Flight of the Dragon Kyn (1993) is also part of the series, offers a stalwart heroine in a rousing story filled with well-realized dragon lore. Sally Estes