The New Kid at School (Dragon Slayers' Academy Series #1) » (First Edition)

The Dragon Slayers' Academy is back-and it's bigger and better than ever! The books have new covers and are now 112 pages long. Expanded from the old 96-page format, they now feature a fun Dragon Slayers' Academy Yearbook at the end of each story, with funny profiles of the faculty, the staff, and, especially, the students of D.S.A. All the things kids want to know about their favorite characters are revealed: their silly nicknames, inner secrets, wildest dreams, and lofty plans for the future!

When a traveling minstrel foretells that he is to become a hero, Wiglaf sets out to fulfill his destiny: he signs up at the Dragon Slayers' Academy. But how can he ever hope to be a dragon slayer when he can't even stand the sight of blood?

Publishers Weekly

This first episode of McMullan's (Nutcracker Noel) Dragon Slayers' Academy series is a silly, good-natured spoof on tymes of olde when dragon slaying was the chosen pastime of the bravest hearts. When a minstrel befriends young Wiglaf, he relates tales of a fearful dragon and bequeaths to the boy a rusty sword that is magicalthough he can't recall the words that will activate its power. Before wandering off, he predicts that the boy will one day be a "mighty hero." Wiglaf then spies a notice advertising a school with just the classes he needs to achieve that lofty status (e.g., How to Stalk a Fire-Breather and 101 Ways to Slay). He and a classmate eventually best a beast by discovering its secret weakness: an intolerance for bad jokes. This caper, at its most comical moments, incorporates Monty Python-esque slapstick and language ("We shall go thitherward to carry out our plan!"); it also sinks to some gratuitous grossness (slime from Gorzil's nose "spattered on the ground in greasy yellow puddles") and over-the-edge inanity (Wiglaf's dragon-slaying crony, Eric, confesses he is actually Princess Erica, daughter of Queen Barb and King Ken). Children will have a few phrases to groan over, yet plenty to chuckle about with these Arthurian-era antics. A second volume, Revenge of the Dragon Lady, is due in November. Ages 7-10. (Oct.)