Bloom of the Flower Dragon

Dragon Masters #21

by Tracey West, Graham Howells (Illustrator)

Drake and Worm must help a Flower Dragon protect his home in the latest action-packed installment of this New York Times bestselling series! Pick a book. Grow a Reader! This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow! A Flower Dragon named Wildroot has come to Bracken! He needs help because his home is in danger. The Dragon Masters must find this small dragon his own Dragon Master. The Dragon Stone reveals a boy named Oskar, who is disappointed that he does not have a big, fire-breathing dragon. Can Oskar and his dragon learn to work together in time to save the Flower Dragons from a terrible monster? With engaging black-and-white artwork on every page, kids won't be able to put down this action-packed adventure!

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Chapter Books, Fiction, Dragons, Middle Grade, Juvenile

96 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2022

About the author

Tracey West is the New York Times bestselling author of Dragon Masters, a series in the Scholastic Branches line. She has written more than 400 books for kids, including the Pixie Tricks series and the Underdogs series with Kyla May.

Some readers also know Tracey for writing books based on animation such as Pokémon and LEGO Ninjago.

She currently lives in the western Catskills of New York with her husband, Bill; their adopted dogs; and a whole mess of chickens.

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books are now well below my youngest daughters reading level. But she loves them so much. She reads for 20 minutes 5 days most weeks and a book in this series use to take her 10-12 days to read. This one she read in under three sittings. And she has insisted that we pre-order the two volumes Guarding the Invisible Dragons and Curse of the Shadow Dragon. I have said it before and I state it again, this series gets better and better. It has serious staying power. And in this volume we get a few surprises! This is book 21 but we have reread a few of the volumes, making it the 31st time we have read a book in the series. As a family we eagerly await the new volumes that have been announced. And this volume Graham Howells is the illustrator, just like the last volume, I believe this is the 6th he has illustrated. We checked and he does not illustrate the next volume but does the one after that. But let us return to this volume.

The description of this volume is:

“Drake and Worm must help a Flower Dragon protect his home in the latest action-packed installment of this New York Times bestselling series!
Pick a book. Grow a Reader!

This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!

A Flower Dragon named Wildroot has come to Bracken! He needs help because his home is in danger. The Dragon Masters must find this small dragon his own Dragon Master. The Dragon Stone reveals a boy named Oskar, who is disappointed that he does not have a big, fire-breathing dragon. Can Oskar and his dragon learn to work together in time to save the Flower Dragons from a terrible monster? With engaging black-and-white artwork on every page, kids won't be able to put down this action-packed adventure!”

This story picks up shortly after the previous one. And in this one the Master Dragon Stone shows Drake and Bo the next new dragon master. My daughter reads through the chapter titles before beginning, and guesses what might happen. The chapters this time are:

The Dragon Visitor
Wildroots Tale
A New Dragon Master?
To The Village!
Oskar
A Mystery
The Valley of Starflowers
Legend and Werewolf
Dancing Dragons
The Finsterbuns!
Night Falls
Under Attack!
Bloom
The Traveller’s Tale
Diego’s Idea

This story was fairly different. It was not action from beginning to end. The new dragon master was underwhelmed with his dragon. And there are some strange goings on. My daughter listed many things she loved about this book. She loved Oskar’s turning point. Even though we had figured it out with a few chapters to go she loved the twist or surprise and that we had both guessed correctly about what was to happen. She absolutely loves the idea of the little dancing flower dragons, kind of in a murmuration pattern. And she was very excited that we encountered Diego again after a few books, and that it looks like he will be a main character in the next one. I loved the Finsterbuns, not to spoil but they remind me of a hybrid with another legendary creature or hoax.

This was a really fun read. We both enjoyed it immensely. We both give this volume a solid 5/5 stars, it is a great read in a wonderful series. West and Howells have hit it out of the park again.

[Efox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so happy to have a new Dragon Masters book - one I haven't read 30 times! My wonderful dad got this for us - and the kids were SO EXCITED to discover it when they came home from School. I had to read the entire thing to my 4 year old in one sitting who absolutely is enthralled by these books. She was totally into the story about the tiny flower dragons and their amazing magical powers. Her other favorite book also involves Drake and Anna (Waking the Rainbow Dragon: A Branches Book (Dragon Masters #10)) and I'm guessing this one will be another favorite.

Thanks Tracey West for writing such a great series that my kids love so much! Can't wait for #22!

[shannon ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

hell yeah

[Cris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore the Dragon Masters series! They always have a great story, a new dragon every book, and wonderful adventure! Drake and Worm must help a town from a monster attack! The dragon is a Flower Dragon and thanks to Worm we know who the Dragon Master is to be, they just have to locate him…

[Bronwyn]

I read to Galen on November 12 and 13, 2024.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

My kids loved this book; I was bored out of my mind and annoyed to boot. These stories are quite formulaic, which bothers my kids not a whit. I wouldn't mind so much if the formula was better--I'm really not on board with the 8-year-olds-save-the-world-completely-without-grownup-supervision concept.

In this iteration of it, Drake and Worm transport Ana and Kepri to some mountains where there are tiny dragons living in a field of flowers near a village but somehow without the villagers knowing about it. The dragon stone chose a blond boy to be the dragon master for the tiny dragon who first came to Bracken to ask for help. The "twist" this time is that the blond boy is rude to this little dragon because he's not thrilled the dragon is small, and he doesn't want to help because he's determined to go search for his missing father instead. Lovely.

A seer has predicted the imminent arrival of a monster, so the children go off to the field and figure out that Kepri can use sunshine powers to charge up the tiny dragons so they can basically hypnotize & heal the monster, which turns out to be a werewolf type creature--i.e. a human who ate the wrong berries & morphed into a murderous beast. Most adults will be able to guess this outcome of this story.

[Starbubbles · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of this book felt like I had missed a book. I hadn't, but it was weird.

I also appreciated a new dragon master not being instantly awesome and excited about their dragon. This 8 year old kid was kind of douche, and he pretended to not know it.

I also loved that the kid was like, "i need to rescue my dad. He has been gone for a month." "I need to help this dragon's village first and have no idea where it is or it how long it will take? Cool. That tracks. Dad second though, right?" I know it's a short kids' book, but still. Sometimes i have questions that are glossed over so fast in books like this that they barely warrant a a shrugging emoji.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for Christian parents and educators. My students have LOVED this series. I am so disappointed that that next book will include a character that is "nonbinary" and goes by neither "he" nor "she," but as "they." This (Bloom of the Flower Dragon) is the last Dragon Masters we read, and the last time we recommend it to others. If you're interested, there is a terrific article explaining the new books called, "After 21 Great Children’s Books, ‘Dragon Masters’ Series Confuses Kids With ‘Nonbinary’ Character" by Auguste Meyrat. Very sad.

[Shoshanah · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’re still working our way through Tracey West’s Dragon Master books with number 21, Bloom of the Flower Dragon. (Although we’re basically caught up, with only two published we haven’t read, one which came out this month.)

It does feel like a bit of a transition book with a major story arc wrapping up in book 20. Although this is a fun little adventure with mini-dragons and a werewolf.

We’ve had a lot of fun with these books since we started reading them over two years ago. And I’m pretty sure we’re only a couple years off from him being to reread all on his own.

4/5

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

These tiny flower dragons are pretty cute, though this werewolf storyline where they get turned into werewolves by eating fruit is kind of hilarious. This one felt a little different than the other books in a mostly good way. Kind of weird, but fun to see a new dragon master deal with some grief over a seemingly disappointing dragon. There's no way I can keep track of all the dragons and dragon masters we've met over all these books. The kids are still enjoying me reading these books though so I'll keep going!

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun dragon masters book that my 6 year old loves! This one was fun because it was a one book story plot. There's been a few lately that are several books with an overarching story arc. It was refreshing to bring it back to one book plots.

I think this book is based in Germany. Especially with the similarity to edelweiss.

[Ash Brar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drake and Anna were going to a place with flower dragons and an 8 yr old boy was going to be a dragon master for a flower dragon named Wildroot. There was a werewolf, but Oscar was looking for his missing father. But later in the end of the story the werewolf turned back in to a human and it was Oscar’s father!

Charlotte - Age 7

[Diana Tilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

My seven year old says: "A little bit scary, but I like it." Parents, beware, there is a werewolf in this one and the illustrations gave my son nightmares. Unexpected from the innocent cover! Everything is resolved with the werewolf in the end, but if you have a kid who gets spooked easily, don't read this one at bedtime.

[Tess Jones-Orta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent story. I just get tired of the constant repeating because the dragons can only communicate to each other and then through their dragon masters.

[Marie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

O

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how these books incorporate different cultures. The references to edelweiss flowers in this one were sweet also.

[Magleby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book

[Shankar B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked when Oscar had to find out his dad was the monster. The dad was good but the monster was bad.

[PottWab Regional Library]

A, SM

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun chapter books about dragons. My son loves reading these together.

[Ronel Janse van Vuuren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with Wildroot that Oskar is a turnip-head – the flower dragons are awesome. I liked the twist on the werewolf legend. A good story about not judging someone on appearance.

[Pamela Zeiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 6 year old loves this series. I thought this book was fun. It had werewolves and Fairies.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids can’t believe they just finished book 21 of the series. They are so fun and easy to read or to listen in the car.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like how the new Dragon Master is a "turnip head". They can't all be winners at first, right?

[Brooks Wilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a felling the wolf was the dad but your never sure

[Ashlee Seelos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tyler (6) loves this series.

[Mackenzie Janssen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot: ★★★☆☆

Character: ★★★☆☆

Setting: ★★★☆☆

Engagement: ★★★☆☆

Listenability: ★★★★☆

Enjoyment: ★★★☆☆

[Neil Moser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a restart for the series and for us. it was nice to have a closed plot rather than the Astrid story. My son and daughter both enjoyed it.

[Lizzie Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Another one. My girls love these but I'm very ready for something else and hope the library runs out soon.

[Paxton Cabigon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good ending