By Dawn Lairamore
Rating: 4 1/4 stars
Princess Ivy is not the dainty, proper, well-behaved princess she is supposed to be. In fact, she runs rather wild over the tiny kingdom of Arendale, and her befuddled father lets her. That is, until Ivy discovers that upon her 14th birthday, she is to be locked in a tower guarded by a dragon until a prince arrives to slay the dragon, marry the princess and thus become king of Arendale. This arrangement has been going on for centuries as part of the Dragon Treaty--an agreement to stop the dragons from pillaging the countryside and to lure potential suitors to an otherwise tiny and not very attractive kingdom. But before Ivy is locked away, a suitor arrives from a northern country--and Ivy quickly discovers he is as arrogant and unkind as he is handsome. All her efforts to drive him off are in vain however, and it is only when she finally is put in the tower that she discovers his true evil plot. Desperate to tell someone else of the planned mischief, Ivy ends up turning to the only other being she can talk to--the dragon guarding her. Soon Ivy and Elridge the dragon are on a quest across the Craggie Mountains to attempt to find the only other person they think could help--Ivy's missing fairy godmother. There is plenty of action, humor and fun to this fantasy, and readers will thoroughly enjoy it from beginning to end.
