Blurb.
Everything is topsy-turvy in Goblin world and Matty, the Goblin Princess, just doesn’t fit in! Her mum, the Goblin Queen, is always telling her to un-tidy her room and eat up her slug porridge (yee-uk!). Most of all goblins HATE nice things, including their enemies the sparkly Forest Fairies.
Matty has a problem. Her new pet baby dragon, Smoky, is far too good and her parents, the Goblin King and Queen, are threatening to send him away! But Smoky is her best friend – can she find a way to make him naughty enough to keep? She just might need the Forest Fairies’ help…
What does TWG think?
‘Smoky The Dragon Baby’ is the first book in ‘The Goblin Princess’ series written by Jenny O’Connor and illustrated by Kate Willis-Crowley. I am truly thankful for having an excuse to read children’s books nowadays without anyone saying anything, as I have a three-year old bookworm!
Firstly, let me talk about the illustrations. Wow. Will you just look at that cover? As we all know, book covers are really important. They are the first thing that readers see and most opinions of whether to pick up a book is based on that one cover. This cover in particular, however, has nothing to worry about in my opinion! The illustration of the Goblin Princess is beautifully drawn and it changed my opinion of what I assumed goblins to look like. As for the dragon, cutie! I think that the colouring works well in the background, subtle enough to catch your eye without overpowering the illustrations. Overall, my first impression of the cover was a big thumbs up.
When it came to reading the story itself, I knew that I had to get my mini-me to help, even though it did mean waiting until her bedtime to read it! Luckily for us, we got to savour the book over a few nights as I just knew she wouldn’t sit still for the whole story. Nothing against the story, she is just a fidget (and rightly so). I actually don’t think I asked her opinion at all, I didn’t have to. The belly laughing that was coming from the right side of me was enough of an answer! The names of the goblins and characters in this book are brilliant, they most certainly gave the story a fun edge.
The storyline is very easy to follow and I believe that it would be an excellent book for children of all ages to sit down and enjoy. There are a few tongue twister words involved so maybe children might be hollering for your help with the words. Either that, or hollering for the fact that they want their very own dragon!
The beautiful illustrations carry on throughout the book and match Jenny’s enchanting writing superbly. Even as a twenty-something, cough, adult, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this to my daughter and seeing her face light up every night that we read it.
Highly recommended and would be a perfect stocking filler for a little person this Christmas. Beautiful book.
Thank you Faber & Faber.
The Goblin Princess – Smoky The Dragon Baby can be bought from Amazon right now.
Keep your eyes peeled for the second book in the series; The Goblin Princess – The Grand Goblin Ball, coming in 2017!
The Writing Garnet 
Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog.
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