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This is a wonderful tale of knights, dragons and battles! A boy and girl work together to rid their land of Flamethrottle the dragon for ever, using both ideas and creativity to make a mechanical dragon. The illustrations are in vibrant colour, full of detail and jokes. Will young readers want to make their own dragon-battler? They will certainly want to read this tale again and again, for tension grows as Flamethrottle almost defeats the clanking, run-down clockwork dragon. At this point, the resolution is held in the balance, providing an ideal opportunity for children to create different story endings. Rich in language and illustration and begging to be dramatised, this book will be highly successful with lower junior readers.

Gwynneth Bailey, BOOKS FOR KEEPS

When Tom, a toymaker's apprentice, is fired for making a clockwork horse, he decides to apply for the only job available: a brave knight to rid the kingdom of a fierce dragon. With help from Lizzie the armourer's daughter, Tom constructs a very large and scary clockwork dragon. But what will happen when the clockwork motor runs down? An exciting and appealing story for boys aged four to seven with artwork by the award-winning illustrator of Robot Dog.

THE BOOKSELLER

This lively picture book uses fairy tale elements in a new story where Tom, a toymaker's apprentice, rids the kingdom of a terrible dragon with the help of Lizzie, who is an armourer's apprentice. Tom has been fired for using clockwork to make toys instead of painting puppets and so he goes for the only job in town (getting rid of the dragon). He goes to order some armour but when he sees Lizzie's workshop he has an even better idea, They make a huge clockwork dragon together by recycling armour which they sneak out of the dragon's cave while he is sleeping. Driving this dragon shaped clockwork tank they frighten the dragon away and even when the clockwork motor runs out, Tom proves his resourcefulness by tricking the dragon into winding it while the two children remain safely inside.
The illustrations are bright and energetic, in full, saturated colour and the narrative is well structured and fluent, with lots of italics for emphasis and drama which will help with reading aloud. The story ends with the brave pair opening a clockwork toyshop together, and most satisfyingly on the final page we are told that the best selling toys are their little clockwork dragons.

Lucinda Jacob, SCHOOL LIBRARIAN