{"id":2361,"date":"2014-04-11T21:17:54","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T21:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/?p=2361"},"modified":"2015-03-30T23:33:21","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T23:33:21","slug":"the-last-dragonslayer-by-jasper-fford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/?p=2361","title":{"rendered":"The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fford"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2400\" src=\"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/The-Last-Dragonslayer.jpg\" alt=\"The Last Dragonslayer\" width=\"133\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I was initially going to read this by myself, but I had to keep stopping to read things out loud to my son because he kept asking, \u201cWhat\u2019s so funny?\u201d \u00a0After a few chapters he asked me, \u201cCan you just start over and read that book out loud to me? \u00a0It sounds really good!\u201d \u00a0Well, I couldn\u2019t say no to that! \u00a0And, I must say, even though this book is cataloged as YA, it really didn\u2019t have anything in it that made me uncomfortable reading it out loud to an 8-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange works as the manager for Kazam Mystical Arts Management.\u00a0 Since wizidrical power has been dwindling for quite some time, wizards are reduced to using their power for more mundane purposes, like delivering pizzas and rewiring houses. \u00a0Jennifer spends her time and energy trying to find enough work for the Kazam employees, but demand seems to be drying up just as quickly as magic.\u00a0 Until, suddenly there is a magical surge and people start whispering about the possibility that Big Magic is involved.\u00a0 When \u201cprecogs\u201d start picking up on the impending demise of the last dragon, Maltcassian, everyone in the UnUnited Kingdoms starts going mad about claiming a portion of the untouched Dragonlands \u2014 and Jennifer learns that SHE will become the Last Dragonslayer. \u00a0Reluctant to believe that she will have to kill Maltcassian, since he hasn\u2019t yet done anything to break the Dragonpact, Jennifer does her best to wield her power as Last Dragonslayer with integrity.\u00a0 This book has a winning combination of a strong female character with a good moral compass and plenty of wry humor. \u00a0I can see this book being a hit for fans of <em>Harry Potter<\/em> who want a lighter fantasy read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was initially going to read this by myself, but I had to keep stopping to read things out loud to my son because he kept asking, \u201cWhat\u2019s so funny?\u201d \u00a0After a few chapters he asked me, \u201cCan you just start over and read that book out loud to me? \u00a0It sounds really good!\u201d \u00a0Well, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/?p=2361\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fford<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6,8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-books-for-children","category-books-for-young-adults","category-fiction","category-reviewed-by-chrissie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffpicks.eglibrary.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}