Dragon Keepers #6: The Dragon at the North Pole

Dragon Keepers #6

by Kate Klimo, John Shroades (Illustrator)

The Dragon Keepers series is perfect for readers who've finished Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series but who aren't quite ready for Harry Potter. It's super-accessible fantasy that's imaginative and adventure-filled! 

In The Dragon at the North Pole, dragon keepers Jesse and Daisy wake on Christmas morning to a winter wonderland—it snowed overnight! Knowing that their dragon, Emmy, has never seen snow before, they hurry to the barn only to discover that she's disappeared. She's left a note behind: "Gone with Santa." Santa?! Can it be true? With the help of two pairs of magic snowshoes, Jesse and Daisy visit the North Pole to find out!

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Middle Grade, Childrens, Adventure, Fiction, Magic

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Kate Klimo spent her early years amidst the cornfields of Iowa where the winters were prodigious. Often, when the snows flash-thawed in the spring, she would find her backyard filled with the flapping, resurrected bodies of fish her ice-fishing father had stored in the snowdrifts. Thus sprang into her young head the unshakable notion that, all winter long, fish escaped from the rivers and magically swum through the snow banks of Mount Vernon, Iowa.

When she moved to the little town of Sea Cliff, on Long Island Sound, she met her best friend Justine in the Stenson Memorial Library at the main desk, where they often checked out the same fantasy writers. Together, they read C.S. Lewis, E. Nesbit, Edward Eager, and George MacDonald and embarked on a tireless search for portals to magical worlds, extending from abandoned Victorian mansions to the decrepit local five-and-dime to the sandy cliffs sweeping down to the Sound.

With her propensity for magical thinking and long-standing love of fantasy, does it come as any surprise that Kate grew up to be in the book business? But after over 25 years of heading up Random House Children’s Books, with the publication of The Dragon in the Sock Drawer in March 2008, Kate began to ease over to the author’s side of the desk.

Now a full-time author, in addition to numerous one-off titles, she has written the middle-grade series The Dragon Keepers series and the Dog Diaries as well the Centauriad for young adults. Under the pen name Bonnie Worth, she has penned over a dozen books in the best-selling Cat in the Hat Learning Library. She lives in New Paltz, New York with her husband and two horses.

Reviews

[Lisa Dickson · Rating 1 out of 5]

No Christmas Magic Here... Childhood Magic Destruction for Believers!

Alarmed at reading this as a bedtime story and seeing the get main characters Jesse & Daisy saying that there's no Santa or Tooth Fairy, I searched for some more descriptive reviews of this book. It gets worse from the two chapters we've read! This is NOT a sweet Christmas-y tale for kids. They travel to the North Pole and do then meet "Santa & elves" -- who are dirty, greedy and enjoy eating endangered animals for dinner! Turns out Santa is really a bad guy in disguise. A major disappointment for the kids who have enjoyed reading this series. Poorly done, Kate Klimo, so I send a "bah, humbug" to you... you should be ashamed of putting yourself in the category of authors who try to destroy magic... stick to creating it!

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sixth book in the Dragon Keepers series by Kate Klimo and John Shroades. It's a fun series and we've enjoyed watching Emmy grow and Jesse and Daisy become more confident as Dragon Keepers.

Christmas, Santa Claus and the North Pole are the focus of this tale, although the story takes a strange turn toward Viking lore. My oldest daughter loves this series and we both read the book independently. We enjoyed this latest edition of the saga and we look forward to reading more of the books in this series as they are published.

[tianarose85 · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son (9) and I discovered this series early this year and have been reading it together over the course of the year. Very cute and entertaining series. Lots of great humour, action and delightful pop culture references. Sad that it’s over.

[Linda Klinedinst · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good...I love this book. I give this book 5/5 stars.

[[ J o ]]

[ read the third book in the series, 'The Dragon in the Sock Drawer' and did not enjoy so will not be continuing with the series ]

[C.M. Savage · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book tells children Santa is not real. Why would you do this for a middle grade story? Some middle graders are still believers! The main characters, Jesse and Daisy, tell their dragon, Emmy, that Santa is not real and then go on to say that the Tooth Fairy isn't real either. Emmy believes though and I had hope in the beginning that Emmy would prove her keepers wrong. I was the one who was wrong, though. My oldest daughter (still a believer before this book) read the beginning of this and then asked me to read it to her as her bedtime story. I did and when I got to the part about Santa, would have skipped over it, but she had already read it. I think she asked me to read it to see what I would say about the Santa not being real part. I thought things were going to turn around when Santa and his reindeer showed up, but it turns out they are an evil Beowulf just disguised as Santa. We have loved this series up until now. Without the smashing of Christmas magic, I would have given this 4 stars. The writing and characters are in similar fashion to the rest of the series and if your children are no longer believes, then I'm sure they will love it. If you have believers in your house, I would recommend you wait on this or read it to them and be prepared to skip over parts.

[Tiffiny · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 11-yr-old son loved this one and is hoping there's more in the series.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Santa asks Emmy to be his helper and she agrees. When Daisy and Jesse find her missing on Christmas Day they head to the North Pole to find out what is going on.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun easy fast read. Klimo does a great job at tying everything together and writing fun magical adventures with Emmy, Daisy and Jesse.

[Roz]

Read September 2015

[Anna]

After reading reviews of this book, I have decided my son needs to wait until he is older before reading it. I will read the book myself when he is older before deciding if he is ready then.

[Hillvan]

770L