This amusing short novella, DRAGON'S FIRST CHRISTMAS,
challenges preconceptions and
makes the fantastic seem almost normal. Rose, a student of
palaeontology, and her husband Henry live in New York, and
they have adopted a newly hatched dragon from a museum's
clutch of supposedly fossil eggs. DRAGON'S FIRST CHRISTMAS
is a lively one.
Rose and Henry are determinedly trying to raise the
telepathic youngster as their child rather than a pet. The
only other member of his species is in the nearby zoo. But
this is the 1920s and zoos are places of close confinement
and little respect for rare species. While they don't want
to treat little Virgil like a caged, trapped animal, they
find that they need to start taking measures to ensure his,
and their, safety. He's already burnt down the Christmas
tree in their lodging house.
The time period brings other attitudes of course, Rose is
brushed aside by people who assume that her husband must be
the expert on palaeontology and dinosaurs. Married women,
after all, are not generally allowed to be students. She's
also expected to be responsible for all the cooking, even
though her adopted son Virgil sleeps in the oven.
I don't want to spoil the fun so I suggest reading the book
to find out what kind of Christmas the family manages, and
if they get any help from the real experts in parenting
dragons. Emily Martha Sorensen has written a few short
novellas in her Dragon Eggs series so you can
take it
from the start and look forward to more adventures.
DRAGON'S FIRST CHRISTMAS, third in the sequence, has some
nicely seasonal elements and can be read as a standalone...
but you'll want more.
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