Dragon Slayers Academy

#1 The New Kid at School

#2 Revenge of the Dragon Lady

#3 Class Trip to the Cave of Doom

#4 A Wedding for Wiglaf?

#5 Knight for a Day

#6 Sir Lancelot, Where Are You?

#7 Wheel of Misfortune

#8 Countdown to the Year 1000

#9 97 Ways to Train a Dragon

#10 Help! It’s Parents Day at DSA

#11 Danger! Wizard at Work

 #12 The Ghost of Sir Herbert Dungeonstone

#13 Beware! It’s Friday the 13^th

#14 Pig Latin—Not Just for Pigs!

#15 Double Dragon Trouble

#16 World’s Oldest Living Dragon

#17 Hail! Hail! Camp Dragononka!

#18 Never Trust a Troll!

#19 Little Giant—Big Trouble

#20 School’s Out…Forever!

By Kate McMullan

4 out of 5 Covers

Dragoon Slayers’ Academy is a very entertaining early chapter series.  Each book is really about the length of a short story, but that doesn’t mean it skimps any.  The series follows Wiglaf, the runt of a family of 11 brothers, as he attends the titular school with the goal of slaying dragons and stealing their hordes of treasure.  Most of that money would go to the headmaster Mordred, who would do anything for even a penny.  There he befriends Mordred’s nephew, Angus, and the star pupil, Eric (who is really Princess Erica). 

Each book is about 90-100 pages (except for #17, which is a double sized special).  Because of this, the stories are kept simple, but not simplistic.  The author uses an economy of language to portray concepts; for example, she is able to introduce the main characters and their characterization within the first four pages.  But the lack of volume of prose doesn’t mean that there is a shortage of style, plot, suspense or humor; especially humor.  The comedy aspect undoubtedly appeals to the target demographic, but it is also something a lot more books could use.

Despite the title, only a small portion of the books deal with dragon slaying; dragons don’t even appear in all of them.  There are encounters with witches, ghosts, trolls, and giants; quests to rescue knights or save kingdoms; and the usual school and family drama.  The variety of plots keeps the series from becoming formulaic.  The characters are lively, though sometimes the problems are resolved too easily. 

Despite being written for younger readers, I was still entertained by the series and see it as something that could easily be translated into a Saturday morning cartoon.