Review: Luma and the Grumpy Dragon by Leah Mohammed, illustrated by Loretta Schauer

What child wouldn’t want to own a magical baby dragon which can disguise itself as a cute puppy whenever anyone else is around?

If you can’t own one yourself, you can enjoy reading about Luma’s adventures with her magical pet Timir in the two short stories contained within this super-readable, illustrated chapter book written by Leah Mohammed. With its large, clear font and joyful black and white illustrations throughout by Loretta Schauer, this book is perfectly pitched to bridge the gap between reading scheme and longer chapter books. What’s more, the stories themselves feature situations which will be familiar to many young children, albeit with an added burst of magic!

The first story is The Grumpy Dragon, in which Luma is excited that her new friend from school, Ella, is coming to her house for a playdate. However, Timir is sulking at the prospect of an imposter and disrupting all of Ella’s careful preparations. When Ella arrives she thinks that Timir is the most adorable puppy but to Luma, Timir’s erratic behaviour is becoming alarming, as are the strange bubbles emanating from her magic charm bracelet! Will she be able to find out why Timir is acting up before her best friend suspects that there is a problem? All will be revealed in just under 100 pages.

The second story, Nani’s Dragon, reveals that Luma’s Nani who lives next door and is the only person other than Luma to know the Timir is not actually a puppy, actually has a dragon of her own! However, when Zayan the dragon fails to arrive for Nani’s birthday party, Luma and Timir are enlisted to help search for him. All kinds of misunderstandings arise when Luma’s cousins arrive with a stray dog that they have found wandering in the street and the story unfolds with a good deal of humorous chaos. This is another gentle and fun story in which perceptive children of 5-8 years will recognise the importance of the strong bonds between humans and their pets whilst reading an entertaining tale. An excellent book to add to Key Stage 1 classroom and library collections to help children develop a love of reading.

I am most grateful to Welbeck Publishing and Antonia Wilkinson PR for my gifted copy of Luma and the Grumpy Dragon in return for my honest opinion.