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Dragon Slayers' Academy #7

Wheel of Misfortune

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Wiglaf, Erica, and Angus are representing DSA in the All-Schools-Brain-Power Tournament!  But what on Earth are they going to do about their know-it-all captain Bragwort?  And how can they even stand a chance against the snobbish Knights Noble Conservatory team?

112 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2003

13 people are currently reading
222 people want to read

About the author

Kate McMullan

218 books154 followers
Kate McMullan is an American children's book author.
She is the author of the Dragon Slayers' Academy series. She is married to author and illustrator James McMullan.

She also has books published under the name: Katy Hall.

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5 stars
243 (44%)
4 stars
147 (26%)
3 stars
119 (21%)
2 stars
27 (4%)
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11 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for E8RaH!M.
244 reviews64 followers
April 20, 2025
به نظرم بهترین و جذاب‌ترین قسمت این مجموعه است. من بعنوان بزرگسال لذت بردم. پسرم هم جذبِ تعلیق داستان شد. شخصیت‌ها امضای خودشون رو دارن و طیف گسترده‌ای از رفتارهای نوجوان‌ها رو در خودش جای داده.
Profile Image for Robin.
877 reviews8 followers
November 9, 2024
Somewhere, sometime – probably during a visit to Costco – I picked up a boxed set of eight books, plus a bookmark, of the first eight books in this series of silly kiddie chapter books, all with cover art by Stephen Gilpin and illustrations by Bill Basso.

Briefly, they depict a medieval boy named Wiglaf who escapes being picked on by his 12 big, dumb brothers and nelgected by his single-minded cabbage farmer folks, to attend (duh) Dragon Slayers' Academy. It's a run-down castle staffed by oddballs, run by a certain Mordred the Marvelous, who's only in it for the gold, and who send unprepared children out to rob dragons of their hoard. Quite by accident, Wiglaf becomes the first student in the school's history to actually slay a dragon, and then another one, despite having a horror of blood and never mustering the nerve to poke his sword into anything. On a lot of his adventures, he's accompanied by fellow students Angus (Mordred's eternally hungry nephew) and Eric (who only Wiglaf knows is actually a Princess Erica), more or less the Ron and Hermione to Wiglaf's Harry. And of course, what could go wrong without the "help" of a cracked wizard named Zelnoc, who is responsible for (among other things) teaching Wiglaf's pet pig, Daisy, to speak Pig Latin.

I believe you can guess where this is all going, so I won't belabor the synopsis other than to say that at least once in almost every book in this set, I laughed out loud. I believe the first time was when a minstrel, by way of inspiring Wiglaf to seek his fortune as a dragon slayer, told him that every dragon has a fatal weakness; like a certain dragaon who hated to be teased, and was thus slain by a knight who said, "Nonny noony poo poo, you old sissy" to it. If that just made whatever you're drinking shoot out of your nose, we may share an appreciation for these whimsical books, in which the problems of modern-day school kids are cosmetically touched up with Middle Ages trappings and the anachronisms (look that up) are perhaps the funniest part.

There are 20 books in the Dragon Slayers' Academy series. From book 9 onward, they include 97 Ways to Train a Dragon; Help! It's Parents' Day at DSA; Danger! Wizard at Work; The Ghost of Sir Herbert Dungeonstone; Beware! It's Friday the 13th; Pig Latin – Not Just for Pigs; Double Dragon Trouble; The World's Oldest Living Dragon; Hail, Hail, Camp Dragononka!; Never Trust a Troll; Little Giant, Big Trouble; and School's Out – Forever! Kate McCullan is also
Profile Image for Atbash (Emma).
89 reviews1 follower
June 24, 2024
This one was delightful!! Despite the name, it was a Jeopardy story.

The way the last one ended, I thought this was going to be a continuation of the quest, and that there would be a whole multi-book arc surrounding that? And then we started this one with the SAT. I’m not disappointed— this was way more charming than anything leading directly off of the last one would have been. The story was fun, we got to see the previously-mentioned rival schools, Zelnoc’s magic mattered for more than a chapter, Daisy was there, and we got to see a previously-unimportant side character who *actually feels kindly towards the main cast* play an important part in the plot. He’s sweet, I hope he shows up a little more.

The gimmick was silly in a wonderful way, and it was nice to see the main three shine. My favorite so far, second maybe to the first one.
31 reviews
July 26, 2019
I love this book! Another new and exciting adventure with Wiglaf, Angus and Erica in joining the Brain-Power tournament with other Knight schools such as KRU and KNC, which are all short forms for Knight schools. I highly recommend this book to primary to lower secondary form students. It is an easy book to handle for amateur level English students, while being an excellent book for entertainment and leisure!
Profile Image for Dolly.
Author 1 book671 followers
September 29, 2012
This is the seventh book in the Dragon Slayers' Academy series by Kate McMullan. Our girls have been reading a few different dragon stories and so this series piqued their interest.

One of the series we've been reading (the Dragon Keepers series by Kate Klimo) paints the dragon as the hero and the slayer in a bad light. But this story gives us more of a typical look at dragons and their slayers, although the story is riddled with tongue-in-cheek humor.

This series offers an interesting take on the dragon/knight saga. The story centers around a school where children are taught to become dragon slayers, primarily for the purpose of enriching the school's headmaster with the slain dragon's hoard. So far he hasn't been the beneficiary of much dragon gold, but I get the feeling that with 19 books in the series, he will keep sending his boys out, hoping to succeed at long last.

It's a very entertaining story, with lots of subtle humor and word play within the narrative. I thought it was fun that the characters took a break from dragon slaying and the three friends competed in a quiz tournament.

It's a quick read and I liked the story. Our oldest has been reading these stories on her own, so I'm reading them quickly to catch up with her in the series. We've read a few of the stories together, but now we're all reading them independently. Our youngest is also reading a few of these tales now that she's finished with the first Warriors series. I am sure that we will look for more of the books in this series at our local library.
Profile Image for Sydney.
1,115 reviews14 followers
November 15, 2013
Its about Wiglaf and his friends are going to this tournament and there captain who says he knows a lot but when he rings the bell he keeps getting the answers wrong so they put a spell on him so all he says is who and the spell helped so they won the tournament.
Profile Image for Kristen Gurri.
296 reviews8 followers
April 11, 2010
Fun and predictable. At least both kids will listen to this series. The best part is they go off afterwards and play dragon slayer school. It's the best possible compromise for a daughter that wants to play school and a son that wants to kill great beasts.
Profile Image for Jen.
1,088 reviews13 followers
September 15, 2014
Possibly my favorite of the Dragon Slayers' Academy books so far! Brother Dave has got to be my favorite character. And I just love how he saves the day in this one!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Payton.
411 reviews5 followers
June 7, 2013
Its where Wiglaf and his friends have to compete with others schools to win a big trophy filled with gold.Every point in the winning team is one piece of gold.
Profile Image for Natsu.
207 reviews5 followers
April 23, 2016
This one is super amusing!! I laughed everytime Bragwort said, "Who?" *LOL* Loving this series more..
Profile Image for Karen.
Author 10 books30 followers
September 23, 2014
Awww, this book was enough to make me love the heretofore underutilized Brother Dave. He MADE this book.
64 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2015
Intermediate chapter book- a great adventure for young readers. Once again, some antiquated terms and ways of saying things on occasion. The contest in the book is a good way to get kids thinking.
Profile Image for MK ( MaKayla).
349 reviews149 followers
April 5, 2019
Entertaining ,hilarious , and quirky as always .
The game in the story reminded me Medival Knight Jeopardy. 😂
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews

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