"Search Inside" Ben and the Dragon!

Hi!

You can now read a SAMPLE CHAPTER of Ben and the Dragon on Amazon by clicking on the cover image with a "Look Inside" ribbon at its upper right corner.

It's the first chapter, leading up to Ben's otherworldly adventure.

This book began as a short story I wrote for my younger son, Ben, for Christmas last year.  My artist wife, Andrée, illustrated Ben and the Dragon and painted the cover.

I enjoyed creating a story around my eight-year-old’s life, imagining what he would do during his adventures with a dragon.  I wanted to create a story where he was the main character.

At our sons’ school, they’re considering adding Ben and the Dragon to their “Accelerated Reading” program, where kids read books and are tested, earning points they redeem at the end of the year for prizes.  Ben’s third grade teacher was the first person, other than our family, to read an early manuscript.

I’m really, really, really glad Ben and the Dragon is in this world.

On Christmas morning, I thought it would be easy to polish the story I had written and mold it into a book.  After months of fixing, changing, tweaking and deleting—not to mention coordinating with Andrée on illustration ideas—it feels like I have finally given birth after a prolonged labor... and now, I am left with a lingering feeling of relief.

A boy and a dragon meet at a pond.

Everything in this story is taken from Ben's life; the only thing strictly made-up is the dragon world, which was influenced, strongly, by my imagined notions of my French wife’s heritage.

I hope children of all ages enjoy Ben and the Dragon.  Let me know!

If you order Ben and the Dragon on Amazon, and buy from oneandonlybooks (that's me), you'll get a signed copy.

Good reading, and Merry [early] Christmas….

Ben and the Dragon! (new book excerpt)

 

Ben hopped off the stool and went over to the side of the stove where he placed one hand on the stove’s edge and one hand on the counter top above the silverware drawer. He pushed himself up, doing body lifts like a gymnast on parallel bars.

“Ben!” his mother said. “The stove is hot. Be careful.”

He did a few more lifts, and then hung with his feet swinging. “Mom, do dragons exist?”

The woman tapped a spoon on the edge of the bowl. She wiped her finger on the spoon and licked it. She was accustomed to questions of this sort from her younger son.

“There are stories of dragons in history,” she said. “In Great Britain, France, of course, China, Ireland and many other countries. They all have legends that describe these creatures.”

Ben frowned. “Yeah—but do they exist?”

“I’ve never seen one,” his mother replied, “yet.”

“Okay, Mom. Thanks!”

Ben dropped to the floor and ran into the living room where he’d been playing with Charlie, their neighbor, who was visiting before dinner. Charlie would go back home as soon as the Weimers began to eat. He lived two houses away. Charlie’s family already ate their supper.

Having played for a while with their Lego City, which dominated the family's dining room, Gui asked his mother for permission to toss the football outside with Ben and Charlie for a few minutes before dinner. Once in the front yard, Ben took the opportunity to ask his brother whether or not he thought dragons were real.

“No,” Gui said, quite sure of himself. “Maybe Komodo Dragons, but real dragons don’t exist.” Gui was twelve, and felt sure about what he knew.