Knight-napped! (Dragonbreath Book 10), by Ursula Vernon

I love love love the Dragonbreath books, and I thrill to each new installment of the adventures of Danny Dragonbreath and his friends Wendell and Christina and all the other assorted reptile and amphibian characters who fill the pages of this series.   If you want a book to offer a seven or eight-year old with a sense of humor, especially an eight-year old who is maybe a bit geeky and who appreciates the snarky absurd, a Dragonbreath book is the Right Answer!!! 

In this installment, Knight-napped (Dial Jan. 2015), Danny's annoying cousin Spenser has been kidnapped by knights, and Danny and his friends rush off to the knights' castle to save him.  It is the details that make this fun, and happily there are enough details to make it very fun.

Why do I love these books?  Because Reasons, as my own boys would say, the reasons being:

1.  The books include of lots of graphics--illustrations that continue the action, as well as some that just illustrate, that break up the text and make things reader friendly for elementary school readers. 

2.  The above-referenced graphics delight me with their charm and personality.  So simple, yet so expressive! 

3.  Christina is a really really cool smart savvy feminist lizard and I love her.

4.  I like Wendell too, who is also a smart geek.

5.  I like Danny too, who though not book smart has his moments.....

6.  But mostly I love these books because I am grinning pretty much the whole time I read one, and that is good, because smiling actually forces the brain to release chemicals that make you happier.   So it is total win.

Here are Danny and Wendell climbing a tower; they have reached a gargoyle quite near the top, and
Wendell (terrified) perches desperately on it.

"You can't just stay there," said Danny.  "I mean, I suppose you can, but we don't  have much time to save Spenser-"

"You go save Spencer," said Wendell, eyes tightly shut.   "I will stay with the gargoyle.  I will name him Mister Scowly and we will be friends."  (page 126)