Book Review: Hunt for the Devil's Dragon

Hunt for the Devil's Dragonis the eleventh book in The Imagination Station series.  In this book cousin's Beth and Patrick go back in time to 13th century Libya where the make friends with a brother and sister pair and a Roman soldier named Georgius who follows Christos.

Both my seven year old and I enjoyed the story.  A few chapters into the book we started to suspect that this story was about St. George and the dragon.  It turned out that it was but the story offered a bit of a twist on the legend of St. George which I thought was unique.  Throughout the story young readers will find a good Christian message.

There's a lot of focus on anti-bullying these days and this book ties in nicely with that message.  Mr. Whittaker sends Beth and Patrick off on this exciting adventure after Beth talks about how she failed to stand up for a friend who was being bullied.  Children will learn that sometimes we have to slay dragons in our own every day life situations, even if the dragons aren't actually real dragons.  The underlying message of the book is one that young readers with understand and be able to take to heart.

As with other books from this series, my second grader really enjoyed reading it.  The books are always a great blend of Christian values, adventure and history.

Coming from a Catholic perspective I did notice that nowhere in the story or the explanation of the story was St. George referred to as a saint.  In fact, in the "Questions about dragons?" section of the book, it posits that George probably didn't actually exist.  So while the book questions his existence we know that he's recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.

Overall, if your looking for an early reader chapter book that both boys and girls will like, Hunt for the Devil's Dragonis worth a look.  I actually like this series a lot better than the Magic Tree House books.

I was provided with a review copy of The Imagination Station Hunt for the Devil's Dragon by the publisher, Tyndale, in exchange for my honest review.  You can peek inside this book at Amazon
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