What do you think?
Rate this book
Dragon
Silver has it all figured out. She’ll finish high school with fantastic grades, more popularity than most, a resume to impress the most stringent college admissions officer, and a rock-solid plan for her future. There’s only one thing standing in her way – an A in Advanced English. When she teams up with an unlikely ally - the outcast with the hand-drawn dragon on the back of his jacket - her path becomes clear and she devises a plan to steal the final exam and guarantee that she gets an A in English. If she fails, it will cost her everything. But if she succeeds, she’ll only have to do one thing. Decide just how far she’s willing to go for perfection.
This is an alternate-cover edition. The original-cover edition is ISBN 9781301244966.
This is an alternate-cover edition. The original-cover edition is ISBN 9781301244966.
- GenresYoung Adult
ebook
First published June 17, 2013
11 people are currently reading
746 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Linehan
26 books116 followersAmanda Linehan is a fiction writer, indie publisher and INFP. She has published three novels and a couple handfuls of short stories. Her short fiction has been featured on Every Day Fiction.
She lives in Maryland, likes to be outside and writes with her cat sleeping on the floor beside her desk.
She lives in Maryland, likes to be outside and writes with her cat sleeping on the floor beside her desk.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 23, 2017
*I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.*
My Rating: 4/5
High school senior, Silvia (Silver), is the quintessential "good girl":
Captain of the Cheerleading Squad
Student Body President
Founder of the Service Club
Straight A Student
...Up until she receives only a B in Mr. Bailey's Advanced English class. Than Silver decides she's gonna have to break the rules to keep that A average she has worked so hard for.
Silver enlists the help of fellow classmate, Dave (Dragon Boy), who just so happens to be Mr. Bailey's neighbor, with the keys to the teachers house. The two start devising a plan to break into their teacher's home office to retrieve the exam & answer key to their up coming test. As Dragon Boy & Silver start to form an unlikely friendship, their test-snatching plans change to more then just the both of them. And things get complicated...
With Silver now facing breaking in to her teacher's house, worries over being caught cheating & a growing attraction to Dave, will things work out the way Silver planned?
Dragon is a lighthearted YA read that mixes romance & intrigue perfectly. A solid 4 stars! I was hooked from the beginning, wondering if Silver and her group of test bandits would get caught and if Silver would fall in love with Dave. I know I loved Dave's character! He's mysterious, smart, artsy & a loner. I could really relate to Dave and was rooting for him throughout the book.
Dragon transported me back to my high school days and it was a fun ride!
I think any YA Romance or Contemporary reader would enjoy this story!
May 7, 2016
First off, I didn’t read very far into the description so, at first, I assumed it was a highschool dragon fantasy. Dragon is not a fantasy. Nope, but it is a great read.
Silver’s an overachiever facing the toughest obstacle she’s ever had to face, a class she has little to no chance of acing. It wouldn’t be a problem if she hadn’t spent her entire highschool career working towards one elaborate plan to build a perfect resume for a very exclusive university.
I most liked that the story was plausible. Silver’s decisions, their consequences, and the ultimate outcome are all very well thought out and realistic. Apart from that, there’s a delightful building of tension and suspense. The story starts off with quite a teaser, and then it backtracks to the weeks leading up to that day and slowly builds back up to that point.
The characters are well built and engaging. I remember kids like the one’s in the story from back when I was in highschool, and, though the main cast is limited to just a few people, I thought there was a good variety in the personalities represented. As for Mr. Bailey, the teacher, he was really likeable, which I thought was funny, as Silver seems to find him intimidating.
The book itself is strong from a quality standpoint. I didn’t notice any editing, grammar or other errors or rough edges, and I look for those. The pace is smooth and steady, enjoyable. The language used is perfect for this sort of story, smart, but easy to read, and the plot is solid and has a point.
Overall, I thought this was a great book. I’d recommend it to folks who love a good YA highschool read with a bit of suspense and realism. No actual dragons or fantasy elements, just some really good storytelling.
I picked up a copy of this book while it was on a free promotion, though I was pointed in that direction by the author so that I could write this review. This review was written for the blog at puretextuality.com.
Silver’s an overachiever facing the toughest obstacle she’s ever had to face, a class she has little to no chance of acing. It wouldn’t be a problem if she hadn’t spent her entire highschool career working towards one elaborate plan to build a perfect resume for a very exclusive university.
I most liked that the story was plausible. Silver’s decisions, their consequences, and the ultimate outcome are all very well thought out and realistic. Apart from that, there’s a delightful building of tension and suspense. The story starts off with quite a teaser, and then it backtracks to the weeks leading up to that day and slowly builds back up to that point.
The characters are well built and engaging. I remember kids like the one’s in the story from back when I was in highschool, and, though the main cast is limited to just a few people, I thought there was a good variety in the personalities represented. As for Mr. Bailey, the teacher, he was really likeable, which I thought was funny, as Silver seems to find him intimidating.
The book itself is strong from a quality standpoint. I didn’t notice any editing, grammar or other errors or rough edges, and I look for those. The pace is smooth and steady, enjoyable. The language used is perfect for this sort of story, smart, but easy to read, and the plot is solid and has a point.
Overall, I thought this was a great book. I’d recommend it to folks who love a good YA highschool read with a bit of suspense and realism. No actual dragons or fantasy elements, just some really good storytelling.
I picked up a copy of this book while it was on a free promotion, though I was pointed in that direction by the author so that I could write this review. This review was written for the blog at puretextuality.com.
June 25, 2016
Fast paced read!
Dragon is a very fast-paced read. The story was not bogged down by extraneous description, while the dialogue between the characters was sharp, snappy and realistic. The author’s plotting and characterization was great. I actually didn’t feel the need to put the book down. I was very curious as to how the story would end.
There were a few grammar problems—nothing to detract from the story—and I didn’t sympathize as much as I would have liked when it came to Silver. This might be just me having not been a teenager for some time.
I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a quick read and to dive into someone else’s world.
Dragon is a very fast-paced read. The story was not bogged down by extraneous description, while the dialogue between the characters was sharp, snappy and realistic. The author’s plotting and characterization was great. I actually didn’t feel the need to put the book down. I was very curious as to how the story would end.
There were a few grammar problems—nothing to detract from the story—and I didn’t sympathize as much as I would have liked when it came to Silver. This might be just me having not been a teenager for some time.
I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a quick read and to dive into someone else’s world.
June 19, 2019
The Test by Amanda Linehan falls in the YA genre and, as the title indicates, is about an essential item in the life of students. In this case, high qualifying marks will count toward university admission. This novel is a reissue by Amanda Linehan and was originally published under the title Dragon. There is a mystery as part of the plot, so given the absence of sexual language and violent content, I could also call this a cozy mystery.
Silver is her nickname, and that is what she wants to be called. All her friends call her Silver. Even her father uses the nickname, one he coined. Only her mother uses Silver’s name from a birth certificate, Silvia, and Silver cringes when she hears it. Silver is an overachiever and wants everyone to know that she achieves everything due to her abilities. She relies on no one — her near-perfect grade point average support her claimed capabilities. But for the latest examination in Advanced English, she had received a B, and that was unacceptable to Silver.
There was no way to repair the damage. Mr. Bailey didn’t change grades, and he did not assign replacement projects to make up for poor performance. The only thing Silver could do was get an A on the final examination. But Silver was not sure she could achieve that goal. Anything less than an A would exclude her from admission to her favorite university. Something must be done to assure the grade of “A.” It appeared that cheating was the only guarantee of a good grade.
Cheating involved stealing copies of the test’s question and answer sheet. Silver resolved a way to do it on her own, but she had gotten caught. She learned valuable information from her class colleague captor. The question and answer sheet was kept in Mr. Baily’s home. Dave, the classmate who had caught her searching Mr. Baily’s office, had a key to Mr. Baily’s home. Could she get him to help her in committing a crime?
If Mike agreed to help, it meant that Silver was not doing things based on her efforts alone. She had to admit her need for help. Eventually, this would spread and involve others. Readers will find answers to lots of questions by reading this YA mystery. Did she go through with her plans? Was she successful? If not, what were the consequences?
Amanda Linehan tells us this is a reissue of the book with a different cover. I expect typos have been worked out. On page 14, I was surprised to find that a few students wanted to get “a peak at the answers.” It was the only typo I found. I am not super critical in searching line by line for mistakes. When my reading persona trips and falls over errors such as this one, I mention it.
A satisfactory read in the YA genre, this novel should retain the interest of adults. The story is a four-star Amazon read in its style of Young Adult. I will read more by this author. I read this genre looking for work suitable for English as A Second Language Learners. The vocabulary level of this novel will be a pleasant experience for English language students. The book is available on Amazon for USD 0.99. It is not currently available on Kindle Unlimited.
Silver is her nickname, and that is what she wants to be called. All her friends call her Silver. Even her father uses the nickname, one he coined. Only her mother uses Silver’s name from a birth certificate, Silvia, and Silver cringes when she hears it. Silver is an overachiever and wants everyone to know that she achieves everything due to her abilities. She relies on no one — her near-perfect grade point average support her claimed capabilities. But for the latest examination in Advanced English, she had received a B, and that was unacceptable to Silver.
There was no way to repair the damage. Mr. Bailey didn’t change grades, and he did not assign replacement projects to make up for poor performance. The only thing Silver could do was get an A on the final examination. But Silver was not sure she could achieve that goal. Anything less than an A would exclude her from admission to her favorite university. Something must be done to assure the grade of “A.” It appeared that cheating was the only guarantee of a good grade.
Cheating involved stealing copies of the test’s question and answer sheet. Silver resolved a way to do it on her own, but she had gotten caught. She learned valuable information from her class colleague captor. The question and answer sheet was kept in Mr. Baily’s home. Dave, the classmate who had caught her searching Mr. Baily’s office, had a key to Mr. Baily’s home. Could she get him to help her in committing a crime?
If Mike agreed to help, it meant that Silver was not doing things based on her efforts alone. She had to admit her need for help. Eventually, this would spread and involve others. Readers will find answers to lots of questions by reading this YA mystery. Did she go through with her plans? Was she successful? If not, what were the consequences?
Amanda Linehan tells us this is a reissue of the book with a different cover. I expect typos have been worked out. On page 14, I was surprised to find that a few students wanted to get “a peak at the answers.” It was the only typo I found. I am not super critical in searching line by line for mistakes. When my reading persona trips and falls over errors such as this one, I mention it.
A satisfactory read in the YA genre, this novel should retain the interest of adults. The story is a four-star Amazon read in its style of Young Adult. I will read more by this author. I read this genre looking for work suitable for English as A Second Language Learners. The vocabulary level of this novel will be a pleasant experience for English language students. The book is available on Amazon for USD 0.99. It is not currently available on Kindle Unlimited.
April 25, 2021
This is a really cute little book. The story, as simple as it is, explores a multitude of concepts - friendship, perfection, power, and love. I enjoyed every bit. Spoiler alert, there's a happy ending that'll make you smile. Honestly, my favorite kind of story is one in which the characters don't get exactly what they want but end up getting what they didn't realize they needed.
All in all, this is a charming little novel full of feels. I quite liked it!
I received a free copy of this book from the author.
All in all, this is a charming little novel full of feels. I quite liked it!
I received a free copy of this book from the author.
November 17, 2015
The Five Dragons
A gem in the halls of High School, see what happens when a straight A student gets a B on mid-term advanced English. Five make a life changing decision to get the answers to the final exam.
A gem in the halls of High School, see what happens when a straight A student gets a B on mid-term advanced English. Five make a life changing decision to get the answers to the final exam.
March 17, 2017
Silver had everything going for her. She was the cheerleading captain and pretty much the most popular girl in school. She had amassed an impressive resume to add to her college applications, and she had worked extra hard in order to impress the most selective university in the nation. But now she has an unexpected obstacle to overcome. She has a B average in her Advanced English class and that’s enough to derail her well-laid plans. Silver sees only one way to get around it, and that is to steal the answers to the final exam. Knowing she can’t do it alone, she enlists help, but later questions that being a wise move.
This young reader had it all, popularity, peer pressure, self-doubt, teenage angst. Except for Silver, I liked the characters. Silver was self-absorbed and I feel she acted less mature than her character should have been. Also, I felt the entire idea of the test cheat, and the fiasco that ensued was totally wrong thinking for a student of her stature. It went against the type of personal character that was built up for her before the beginning of the story. In other words, an upstanding student. I think the moral of the story shines through easily though. I felt the writing was good, except for the character flaws I already mentioned.
This young reader had it all, popularity, peer pressure, self-doubt, teenage angst. Except for Silver, I liked the characters. Silver was self-absorbed and I feel she acted less mature than her character should have been. Also, I felt the entire idea of the test cheat, and the fiasco that ensued was totally wrong thinking for a student of her stature. It went against the type of personal character that was built up for her before the beginning of the story. In other words, an upstanding student. I think the moral of the story shines through easily though. I felt the writing was good, except for the character flaws I already mentioned.
February 22, 2017
Amanda Linehan’s Dragon starts with the discovery of an act of vandalism in the high school lobby.
Pretty exciting, right?
Flash back two weeks. Silver, a cheerleader and a straight-A student, is getting a B in Advanced English. The set-up, while not original, lends itself to a thousand possibilities. Problem is, Linehan takes the road most travelled. Silver concocts a scheme to steal the final exam and ensure her entrance into an elite university. Pretty sure there’s already a movie (or three) with this storyline. Along the way, the plan is derailed (no surprise there) and the result is vandalism.
The jump from stealing to vandalism raises a red flag. Sure, situations get out of control – that’s what makes plots interesting – and a clever writer keeps the reader invested in their character even as she’s making a huge mistake. This didn’t happen in Dragon. The gap in logic is too big to bridge. Silver’s plan to steal the exam was sloppy – and that was hard to swallow from someone who had her whole life mapped out. It wasn’t a surprise then, that they almost got caught. But creating a distraction by vandalizing the school just didn’t add up. The reality is they didn’t get caught. So why vandalize the school as a distraction? It’s really where I lost interest in Silver. She was just too calm about the destruction of the trophy case ‒ and too busy flirting with Dave afterwards.
Despite plot issues, Linehan handles the budding and cross-clique relationship between the popular girl, Silver, and the artistic, misunderstood, loner boy Dave with deft hands. Dave has a thing for dragons. They pop up throughout the novel – on the back of Dave’s denim jacket, as a ceramic on display that Dave created – and yet it fizzles by the end of the story. Linehan didn’t quite bring the pieces together, but kudos for trying. She did title the book Dragon and the cover art, highlighting the letter “A” in Dragon is well done. Had she been able to flesh out the meaning of the dragon motif, her title would make more sense. Right now, it just serves as a catchy word to grab the reader’s attention. And that’s too bad.
Linehan’s writing is crisp and could be entertaining given a better structured plot. It would be interesting to see how she’d handle a meatier subject.
Look out Silver, you’ve earned yourself a C on this one.
Pretty exciting, right?
Flash back two weeks. Silver, a cheerleader and a straight-A student, is getting a B in Advanced English. The set-up, while not original, lends itself to a thousand possibilities. Problem is, Linehan takes the road most travelled. Silver concocts a scheme to steal the final exam and ensure her entrance into an elite university. Pretty sure there’s already a movie (or three) with this storyline. Along the way, the plan is derailed (no surprise there) and the result is vandalism.
The jump from stealing to vandalism raises a red flag. Sure, situations get out of control – that’s what makes plots interesting – and a clever writer keeps the reader invested in their character even as she’s making a huge mistake. This didn’t happen in Dragon. The gap in logic is too big to bridge. Silver’s plan to steal the exam was sloppy – and that was hard to swallow from someone who had her whole life mapped out. It wasn’t a surprise then, that they almost got caught. But creating a distraction by vandalizing the school just didn’t add up. The reality is they didn’t get caught. So why vandalize the school as a distraction? It’s really where I lost interest in Silver. She was just too calm about the destruction of the trophy case ‒ and too busy flirting with Dave afterwards.
Despite plot issues, Linehan handles the budding and cross-clique relationship between the popular girl, Silver, and the artistic, misunderstood, loner boy Dave with deft hands. Dave has a thing for dragons. They pop up throughout the novel – on the back of Dave’s denim jacket, as a ceramic on display that Dave created – and yet it fizzles by the end of the story. Linehan didn’t quite bring the pieces together, but kudos for trying. She did title the book Dragon and the cover art, highlighting the letter “A” in Dragon is well done. Had she been able to flesh out the meaning of the dragon motif, her title would make more sense. Right now, it just serves as a catchy word to grab the reader’s attention. And that’s too bad.
Linehan’s writing is crisp and could be entertaining given a better structured plot. It would be interesting to see how she’d handle a meatier subject.
Look out Silver, you’ve earned yourself a C on this one.
December 30, 2016
Great young adult novel about actions and consequences for those actions.
Silver (Sylvia) wants a perfect 4.0 GPA so she can go to the college she has planned on for years, but when she gets a B on a major English essay, she is willing to do anything to get a final grade of A for the class.
She decides the only way to do this is to steal the final exam so she can ace it. She drags her brother Anthony, his friend Mike, and Dave into the plot. While talking to Dave, they are overheard by Karly, the whole plan to steal the the exam gets more complicated.
Burglary of a teacher's home, vandalism of the school, and cheating.
How will the whole thing end?
Silver (Sylvia) wants a perfect 4.0 GPA so she can go to the college she has planned on for years, but when she gets a B on a major English essay, she is willing to do anything to get a final grade of A for the class.
She decides the only way to do this is to steal the final exam so she can ace it. She drags her brother Anthony, his friend Mike, and Dave into the plot. While talking to Dave, they are overheard by Karly, the whole plan to steal the the exam gets more complicated.
Burglary of a teacher's home, vandalism of the school, and cheating.
How will the whole thing end?
July 6, 2016
What is there about teens that prevents them from seeing the consequences of their actions? Silver has her life mapped out and then a B grade in English threatens that future. Her actions almost reck her life and that of her friends, but the resulting change in her life opens new paths for her and her friends. I enjoyed the book, but at times I wanted to kick her butt. Thanks to a Goodreads giveaway for the chance to read this book.
August 1, 2020
Follow along with average, yet driven, high schooler Silver as she tries to re-set her life's course. That involves stealing the answer key from her English teacher's house with her brother and a few friends. And then it gets really interesting when things don't go to plan. Silver has to make a lot of choices, and the story makes you feel each one.
February 23, 2016
Good but sort of sad.
The best way that I can describe the story is a modern day Tale Tell Heart. Well written, good story. I thought that it had a good ending.
The best way that I can describe the story is a modern day Tale Tell Heart. Well written, good story. I thought that it had a good ending.
May 29, 2016
I found aspects of this book fascinating, but for the most part, I didn't really see a lot of real growth for the characters, particularly Silver.
December 18, 2016
Interesting and super quick read. Well written and is it weird that I'm totally in love with the cover?
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews