A Dragon's Guide

Series · 3 books · 2015-2017

By Laurence Yep

Books in series

A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans

2015

Crusty dragon Miss Drake has a new pet human, precocious Winnie. Oddly enough, Winnie seems to think Miss Drake is her pet—a ridiculous notion! Unknown to most of its inhabitants, the City by the Bay is home to many mysterious and fantastic creatures, hidden beneath the parks, among the clouds, and even in plain sight. And Winnie wants to draw every new creature she encounters: the good, the bad, and the ugly. But Winnie’s sketchbook is not what it seems. Somehow, her sketchlings have been set loose on the city streets! It will take Winnie and Miss Drake’s combined efforts to put an end to the mayhem . . . before it’s too late.

A Dragon's Guide to Making Your Human Smarter

2016

For fans of How to Train Your Dragon comes a new tale about dragon Miss Drake and her human pet Winnie, by a two-time Newbery Honor winner, featuring illustrations by Caldecott Honor winner Mary GrandPré. Three-thousand-year-old Miss Drake has arranged to send her dear pet Winnie to The Spriggs Academy, an extraordinary school for humans and magicals alike. Winnie is particularly excited about magic class and having Sir Isaac Newton for science. She’s also making new friends—and frenemies... When a plot to snatch Winnie from her San Francisco home is uncovered, Miss Drake is ready to use all her cunning and magic to thwart it. Not that feisty Winnie needs the help... As a team, the intrepid duo you first met in A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans is unstoppable! With equal doses of whimsy and humor, Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder have crafted an enchanting story about true friendship. Praise for A Dragon’s Guide to Making Your Human Smarter • "Yep and Ryder keep the magic coming with their whimsical fantasy, enhanced by Grandpré's sweet drawings. The story positively vibrates with fun." — Kirkus Reviews • " Lighthearted episodes of unusual school lessons and field trips, illustrated by GrandPré’s winsome spot art, are grounded by Miss Drake’s more serious encounters with the goons...a gratifying development as this buoyant, fantastical series continues."— The Horn Book Review Praise for A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans • \*“Warm humor, magical mishaps, and the main characters’ budding mutual respect and affection combine to give this opener for a planned series a special shine that will draw readers and leave them impatient for sequels.” — Booklist, Starred • “The tale is alternately comical, suspenseful and sometimes sweetly emotional.” — Kirkus Reviews • “Miss Drake’s arch narration and the sharp back-and-forth between the characters create an enchanting story, accented by GrandPré’s whimsical black-and-white spot illustrations.” — Publishers Weekly • “With a black-and-white spot illustration opening most chapters, an engaging narrator, and a consistently fluid writing style, this title makes a fine dragon choice for readers.” — School Library Journal

A Dragon's Guide to Making Perfect Wishes

2017

For fans of How to Train Your Dragon comes the final adventure in the Dragon's Guide series by two-time Newbery Honor winner Laurence Yep and Joanna Ryder, featuring enchanting artwork by Caldecott Honor winner and Harry Potter illustrator Mary GrandPre. Plucky pair Winnie and Miss Drake are traveling back in time to the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair. Waiting in the past are Winnie's great-grandfather Caleb, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and a centuries-old mystery: Who stole the Heart of Kubera necklace? Despite the excitement, Winnie's only wish is to lose Rowan, an unusual boy who has the annoying habit of showing up at inconvenient times. But the wise Miss Drake knows her pet Winnie should be careful what she wishes for—especially when her wish-granting souvenirs follow them home. "Yep and Ryder keep the magic coming with their whimsical fantasy, enhanced by GrandPre's sweet drawings. The story positively vibrates with fun." —Kirkus Reviews "Warm humor, magical mishaps, and the main characters' budding mutual respect and affection combine to give this opener for a planned series a special shine that will draw readers and leave them impatient for sequels." —Booklist, Starred

Author

Laurence Yep

Author · 67 books

Born June 14, 1948 in San Francisco, California, Yep was the son of Thomas Gim Yep and Franche Lee Yep. Franche Lee, her family's youngest child, was born in Ohio and raised in West Virginia where her family owned a Chinese laundry. Yep's father, Thomas, was born in China and came to America at the age of ten where he lived, not in Chinatown, but with an Irish friend in a white neighborhood. After troubling times during the Depression, he was able to open a grocery store in an African-American neighborhood. Growing up in San Francisco, Yep felt alienated. He was in his own words his neighborhood's "all-purpose Asian" and did not feel he had a culture of his own. Joanne Ryder, a children's book author, and Yep met and became friends during college while she was his editor. They later married and now live in San Francisco. Although not living in Chinatown, Yep commuted to a parochial bilingual school there. Other students at the school, according to Yep, labeled him a "dumbbell Chinese" because he spoke only English. During high school he faced the white American culture for the first time. However, it was while attending high school that he started writing for a science fiction magazine, being paid one cent a word for his efforts. After two years at Marquette University, Yep transferred to the University of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated in 1970 with a B.A. He continued on to earn a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1975. Today as well as writing, he has taught writing and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara.