okay so this is for the reread. i will remember things this time. and by remember i mean immediately write down. feel free to not read this theres also a final thoughts section at the bottom. an intermission also, you can ctrl+f that if you don't want to read a chapter by chapter summary of this book. if you do i would reccomend you read the first 4 recaps and then skip to after the intermission.
in this chapter the main character (david rain) meets liz and lucy pennykettle, whose house he's moving into. lucy is almost 11, which we find out later in the book, and liz is her mother. there's not a lot going on past basic introductions, except for the first descriptions of the dragons that live in the house. they're small, made of clay, and are warm to the touch, though that gets brushed off as too much exposure to the sun. they get described as not a "fearsome, fire-breathing monster... nor was it a cutesy, cartoon sort of thing. there was a fiery pride in it's oval-shaped eyes as if it had a sense of it's own importance." overall the descriptions of dragons in this book are super interesting to me! they're pretty different from traditional kids' dragons in several ways, one of which being that they have two sets of wings? one larger set on the back and one smaller set on the shoulders. they also seem to have ash around their snouts. liz's job is sculpting and kilning these clay dragons, which are all around the house.
this chapter is mostly just more basic plot things, but one important thing that's brought up is conker the squirrel. lucy loves animals, and has spent the first two chapters searching for a squirrel named conker. liz says that conker used to live in a large tree by their house, which was cut down because someone said the roots were damaging the road. lucy is worried about the squirrel that used to live in said tree, though. she believes he's got a missing eye and therefore can't navigate well, which is why she spends so much time looking for him. david expresses interest in lucy's love of squirrels, though liz insists he'll be sick of hearing about them before the week is up.
this is a very short chapter. it includes only, as the title suggests, meeting mr. bacon. he's an old man who lives next door to the pennykettles, who seems to hate animals. he speaks cruelly of the pennykettles' cat, bonnington, as he believes the cat to have fleas. he also dashes away in a panic at david's mention of a rat, though david explains to liz that he actually only saw a squirrel.
another short chapter. in this one, lucy tells david all about her squirrels. she spends most of her time observing them, and has actually named five of them. however, the only one who's still around after the tree got cut down is conker. she tells david about his eye injury, and that she doesn't think it was another squirrel or their cat. she begs david to help her save conker, but he's reasonably sure he's not in any danger. he says that if he does see conker in danger that he'll help, but that he's a wild animal who's probably coping just fine.
in this chapter David gets to learn more about the dragons. they're symbolic representations of their owner, and reflect them in a way. lucy says she has two, named gawain and gwendolen. i honestly cannot remember if her having two symbolic representations of herself comes back later in the series? these books get absolutely unhinged later in the series, i wouldn't be surprised if lucy is like two ghosts in a trenchcoat or something. anyway, david sees a fire through the window of the dragon's den, the place where dragons are sculpted, that he's forbidden from entering.
this is the one where the dragons get important and actually have meaning i promise. there is no fire in the dragon's den! liz brushes david off and insists there never was a fire. but! david does get his dragon. he names it gadzooks, and liz tells him it "wanted" a pen and pencil, so it got one. david asks if it's a writer dragon, to which the response is yes. david says he's not much of a writer, but that he'll accept it. thought this was interesting. in the endnotes, chris d'lacey says that david is based on him. i think that this is especially notable here, where the symbolic representation of david's soul "chooses" writing for him, even if it doesn't seem like his thing, just like d'lacey didn't think he wanted to be a writer. kinda neat. anyway, we also meet liz's symbolic dragon! her name is guinivere, and she looks to be praying, though liz says that's "not really" what she's doing. inch resting.
three guesses to figure out what happens in this one! david goes to the library to research squirrels for lucy, finds out mr. bacon is the librarian, and gets sent to the library gardens. the actual interesting part is the very last few sentences, in which david gets a vision of his dragon, gadzooks. he vividly sees gadzooks in his mind's eye, trying to write something on his pad of paper. the vision immediately goes away.
also a pretty uninteresting one. this is the point in my initial read where i realized how little dragons feature in this book about dragons. anyway david meets the library gardener, who warns him that people will kill "tree rats" if they feel so inclined. that's about it. this book does not get especially interesting for like another hundred pages or so. we're on page 73 right now in case you were wondering. there's also a moral to it i think but it only shows up in like, the last 30 pages. shrug. until then it's just reading about domestic british households while waiting for hehe dragon go hrrrrr
these are some very nice library gardens. bridges and a fountain even. anyway david meets a second squirrel! this squirrel can smile. end chapter
in this chapter several (two?) things happen. first off, more gawain and gwendolen information! gwendolen looks uncannily similar to lucy, david notices. liz says not many people can see the resemblance, but david is almost unnerved by it. gawain, on the other hand, looks very grim. lucy says he's fierce, and that he doesn't like jokes, interestingly in contrast to the dragons being described as Not fearsome earlier in the book. david notes that if every dragon is a representation of someone, that lucy has both gawain and gwendolen, and that gwendolen is lucy... who's gawain? liz quickly shuts down the conversation, but in the hallway lucy confides that he's the "last real dragon in the world." Secondly, david asks liz and lucy what he should name the smiling squirrel he met in the park. lucy gives a few names that feel incorrect to david, before he sees a clear vision of gadzooks again. the dragon is writing on his notepad, this time clearly writing out "snigger," which david deems the correct name for the squirrel. as david announces the squirrel's name, he hears a soft hrrr'ing noise coming from somewhere in the house.
david finds out mr. bacon has set a deadly trap for the rat he believes is in his yard. lucy wants to tell him that the rat is actually conker, but david tells her that will only make things worse. pretty clear pro-yard-pest (affectionate) messaging here. d'lacey is a pretty strong environmentalist, and that really shows off in a lot of these squirrel-based chapters. he seems to have a lot of sympathy for them, as do the main characters of the books. otherwise not an interesting chapter.
very uneventful chapter. david sees a crow, and hears a fluttering in the dragon's den. when he goes down to check it out, lucy tells him it was probably just a sparrow. he jokingly suggests it could have been a dragon flying around, to which lucy pales.
david and lucy make a counter trap to catch conker before mr. bacon's trap kills him. that's all. 116 pages in. it's neat to read, the dialog is fun, just doesn't make for a great summary. most of the interesting plot happens later in the book.
mr. bacon's trap goes off, and david worries it's killed conker. fortunately, it's only a baby hedgehog, which survived the trap unscathed. david convinces mr. bacon to let it go. as david is leaving, he sees a clear vision of gadzooks, who "speaks" to him, suggesting where conker may be living. david's unnerved by this, and asks liz about it. liz tells him that the dragons are smart, and can help in times of need. david asks about the hrr'ing noise he's been hearing at times, which liz brushes off by claiming it's the central heating. david accepts this, until after liz leaves, when he realizes there are no radiators in the house.
mr. bacon sees a squirrel outside his window. david is worried that he'll increase his efforts to kill conker. he decides he has to do something about it. anyway, real dracula vibes here. yes david i understand dragons are not real but like... at a certain point you have to assume they are right? like... they show you psychic visions, move around the house, liz has told you they're "alive to her and lucy", i get it man it seems unrealistic but this is a lot of weird things happening to just brush off. maybe believe in magic just a little bit.
david's plan from the last chapter was putting bonnington into the trap so that liz would make mr. bacon take it down. it succeeds. end chapter no dragon nonsense here.
this one's interesting (low bar). david remembers lucy's eleventh birthday is soon, and decides he has to get her a gift. however, he can't really afford anything. so, he decides he'll write her a story about the squirrels she loves watching so much. he's trying to come up with a title, when he gets a vision of gadzooks writing down "nutbeast". he ponders this for a moment, before lucy comes to tell him their squirrel trap has caught snigger.
everything that happens in this chapter is summed up by the title. they caught the wrong squirrel! they let him go.
squirrel in the house. squirrel get out of cage squirrel go in house. end chapter
break between parts of this book! page 166 of 400. not a tonnnn has happened? this book has some neat character interactions but when the side plot is magical dragons the main plot of catching a squirrel is less interesting. anyway! so far the big takeaway seems to be just like,,, treating your yard animals well? big into the environmental protection thing. also just being a fan of animals. it really shows how much d'lacey is into the animals. the spirit dragon thing is very neat as well! i think it's cute that they're like... mirrors of their owner. there's more of them in the second book i think, but they're neat now too. anyway id love to get to the dragon stuff desperately hope that happens soon
it's lucys birthday! for her gift, david reads her the first part of a story he's written. it's called snigger and the nutbeast, both of which are words he's been given by gadzooks! the dragon has helped him write most of the book through visions and sharing words.
david continues reading his stories, when lucy suddenly exclaims that the dragons aren't there to listen. she runs to get gawain and gwendolen, but sees something out the window and drops gawain, shattering him. liz is visibly upset, but maintains a calm face for lucy. when david asks what she saw out the window, she shows him mr. bacon trying to kill conker, who can't escape.
david rushes out to save conker, who through a turn of events is saved by snigger. the two squirrels make it away safely, startled by a large crow. gadzooks sends david the name caractus, which he assumes is the name of the crow. he looks around the yard, and notices a crow's nest near a squirrel's drey. david comes to the conclusion that caractus is the source of conker's eye injury.
david goes to the dragon's den to find a sign that says "kilning in progress, do not enter." he disregards the sign and grabs the door handle, burning himself on the metal. he jumps back, then hears liz telling lucy a story. the story is about the last dragon in the world, gawain, and guinivere, the maiden who tries to befriend him. she gets partially through the story before sending lucy to bed, then going to check on the kiln. david is about to warn her of the burning hot handle, but she grabs it without even a wince.
david has a very vivid dream of meeting a dragon in the dragon's den. the dragon inside is guarding gawain, but won't let david in.
david is shaken from his dream, and seems to recognize the dragon in it as gruffen, who seems to move about the house at will. he also discovers what seem to be scales on his hand. these chapters are quite short honestly.
david asks liz about the scales on his hand, which she quickly announces are just glitter. she easily wipes them off. david tells her about another dream he had, in which gadzooks snapped off his pencil and refused to write. because of this, he can't seem to write anymore. david tells liz he moved gadzooks away from his favorite window as punishment, which liz deems cruel. david thinks it's weird how much liz believes they're alive, but nonetheless goes to apologize to gadzooks and move him back to the window.
david locks himself in his room to get his story written. gadzooks is cooperating again, calling out many ideas. suddenly, david hears lucy and liz in the garden, trying to call david down. he looks out the window and realizes exactly what he's been writing is happening in the garden. gadzooks hasn't been suggesting ideas, he's been telling david exactly what's happening outside. anyway i thought the metaphor of gadzooks being david's creative spirit was pretty clear (suggests ideas, helps him write, dies without love, etc.) the whole prophecy thing is a bit contradictory to that but yknow what? i think i could also predict the future if i tried hard enough.
david saves snigger, but bonnington attacks conker. end chapter. it is at this point i realize, 1.65 readings of this book in, that it may be aimed at an older audience than what the project intended. well. im doing my best and i think that's what counts really. probably. aha aha.
they take conker to a wildlife hospital. actual plot's not very interesting. but metaphorically? very good. lucy seems to trust what gadzooks has told david completely. lucy announces conker was attacked by a crow, which david then brushes off as "what he thinks happened." i think that's a sort of interesting self doubt thing? lucy believes wholeheartedly in the dragons, and daid's creativity, but david still thinks it's just a fluke. a few sentences later, lucy tells the wildlife vetrinarian that david writes stories, which he excuses as a "one-time thing". yet again, lucy has far more faith in david's creative spirit than he does.
in this one, sophie, the wildlife vetrinarian, stops by the pennykettle household to update them on conker's status. she says she has good news and bad news. the good news is that conker's eye will heal just fine; the bad news is that he has kidney disease. she says she doesn't know how long he has to live. she then says that unfortunately, hospital policy says she isn't allowed to release wild animals, to the disappointment of lucy and david, who wanted to release conker and snigger into the library gardens to be with the other squirrels. sophie then follows up with telling them that while the squirrels "escaped," she managed to catch them, and she has them in the back of her car.
okay so i missed some stuff earlier that i forgot was important to the story. the clay dragons all have green eyes, but in liz's stories and david's dreams, they have violet eyes. the pennykettles also have green eyes. david shares a bit too much dragon information with sophie, and liz's eyes flash violet at him in a way that makes david jump. that's all.
they release conker into the library gardens, david decides that in the story, another recurring squirrel will be conker's dad. interestingly, though, this is the first proposal for the story david has given entirely seperate from gadzooks. in-text, either he and the dragon are getting close enough that they communicate automatically, or david is actually learning to write by himself. either way, he's accepting his writerly abilities!
liz offers sophie the chance to have her own dragon, as a gift for helping conker. they all go to the dragon's den, where david identifies the dragon he's been dreaming about as being gruffen. he tries to confront the clay dragon, but gets burnt as a result. lucy tells him not to mess with the dragons "when their eyes are lit." she points to gruffen and david notices his eyes are violet, rather than the green the clay dragons always have.
sophie names her dragon grace, and liz announces she's a listening dragon. david tries to tell sophie about the dragons being real, but sophie laughs him off. after sophie leaves, lucy says she knows what they were talking about, because grace told her.
in this one. gadzooks delivers. an OMEN OF DEATH. david writes his story a rather bland happy ending, which lucy insists isn't the real ending. when david asks gadzooks for help, the dragon shows him the number nine, a symbol of death in the town they live in. david immediately knows what this means and refuses to believe it, but decides to go to the library gardens anyway. why does the dragon deliver omens of death? honestly quite creepy in this chapter. the dragon is RIGHT too. why.
david invites sophie to the gardens, who invites liz and lucy. the four of them go, though david is feeling rather ill the whole time, anticipating what's coming. they search for squirrels, before gadzooks begins giving david hints as to where to go. the dragon leads him to the groundskeeper, who when david asks, points him to conker's dead body. why. does the silly little dragon. deliver OMENS OF DEATH. rip conker though :((
a lot happens in this one! the groundskeeper apologizes for conker's death, but suggests the group bury him near the oak tree he used to eat from, to continue the circle of life (the second (?) theme of the book! death being entirely natural!). they agree, and have a lovely funeral for him. david is wondering what will happen to his story, and is quite upset. when liz tells him to ask gadzooks for help, he snaps. he yells that he's sick of hearing about the dragons every time something bad happens, and storms off. liz tells lucy that david is in a fight with gadzooks, to which lucy tearfully asks if gadzooks will "shed a fire tear." liz says that gadzooks will be fine, and that david will eventually come to terms with the dragons, because he's "very good at making up stories." notably, david is NOT very good at making up stories! so long as you consider gadzooks a seperate part of him. every story he's written has been with the help and guidance of gadzooks, and the one time he tried to write without gadzooks, he had terrible writer's block. i suppose that means the dragons are already a part of the person they represent, not a seperate entity entirely. interesting!
david returns to the pennykettle household and apologizes to liz. she asks if he had any luck with his story, and he says no. he even tried asking gadzooks, but that he looked very sick. liz tells him that when a dragon isn't loved by its owner, it "sheds a fire tear," and dies. david rushes to apologize to gadzooks. interestingly, in this one, david yet again insists he's not a good writer. seems like the people who properly know david's writing isn't "done by him" are the firmest believers in dragons. more proof that dragons are simply an extension of their owners rather than seperate entities.
liz tells david the full story of gawain. guinivere, the maiden who loves him, knows he's dying, but wants to preserve his spirit. when a dragon dies, it leaves behind a fire tear, which contains its spirit. guinivere goes to an old witch and asks how to preserve gawain's magic. the witch tells her that she must collect the fire tear and preserve the future of dragonkind. partway through the story, gruffen interrupts.
gruffen, now openly moving in front of david, leads him to gadzooks. he looks ill, and seems to be on the verge of tears. david tries to apologize, but notices that gadzooks has already shed a fire tear. he quickly scoops it up, but doesn't know what to do. gruffen produces instructions for david, which he follows closely, aided by a vision of the old witch from the story of guinivere and gawain. david returns gadzooks' fire tear, and watches as liz's special dragon, guinivere, breathes fire in order to "rekiln" gadzooks, who is now feeling well. as a thanks, gadzooks shares the ending of the story with david.
david tries to convince sophie of what he just saw. she doesn't believe him, but he continues with telling her he's planning to make a second book (interesting reversal of all the times he's said he didn't want to write another book!) called the dragons of wayward crescent. this is actually a series of books that chris d'lacey wrote later!
the final chapter! david reads his final story to lucy. the story ends with conker's peaceful death, with the other squirrels reacting calmly, the death being natural theme again. after he finishes, gadzooks suggests him more ideas. the end :))
okie so! the two primary themes were creativity and death i believe! david's writerly journey seems like it's a parallel to chris d'lacey's author story. he doesn't think he's a writer, but a bit of magic leads him all the way to writing several books. i thought the representation of creativity as dragons is pretty interesting! in the second book there's a whole lot more about the dragons and what they can do, but they all have different abilities! overall, though, i think they're a metaphor for creative spirit. they guide people, sometimes in ways that don't make sense, lead them to skills they didn't know they had, inspire them to pursue goals, and will die if they aren't loved enough. i think a lot of creatives can relate to the idea of creativity being a sort of sentient thing, capable of being angry and getting in fights with you.
and the second theme! death! this one came a little out of left field in my opinion, at least in the last few chapters. though, it is kinda of an important message for children to learn, and it's presented in a very healthy way. conkers is alive, and he passes, and he benefits his ecosystem the same way it benefitted him. in the story david finally tells, the other squirrels describe death as "wuzzling off," and describe it as if conker has simply gone on a long vacation. they miss their friend, but it's what happens to everyone. the straightforwardness of the moral caught me off guard on my first read-through. it's a very blunt message for a book aimed at 10-11 year olds. everyone dies eventually, but it's fine. not something i can say of many other books aimed for children! it's hard to deal with such a difficult topic, but d'lacey does it head-on.
there's also some business about reincarnation of the last few chapters. i can't remember how it gets in the next few books, but liz and lucy are the kinda-sorta-reincarnated descendants of guinivere and her daughter gwendolen. they're not reincarnations, but they do spiritually represent them. i think this sort of ties the "dragons are creativity" and the death theme together. towards the end of the book, many characters tell david that it's okay if conker has died, because he'll always live on through david's book, immortalized in the form of a story. guinivere and gwendolen are also immortalized through (symbolic) creativity, their magic being passed down through the generations. i think that's a really neat way to tie together themes of death and creativity! i can't tell if i'm reading too much into silly children's dragon book but i very much enjoyed reading through it :))