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5/26/15

Lily Quench and the Treasure of Mote Ely, by Natalie Jane Prior (for Timeslip Tuesday)

Lily Quench and the Treasure of Mote Ely, by Natalie Jane Prior (Puffin 2004) was supposed to have been the Timeslip Tuesday book both last week and the week before, but things happened that kept me from finishing it the first week, and the second week I just didn't feel like it.  But here it is now, even though I still don't have much to say about it.

The Lily Quench books are a series, currently at seven books, first published in Australia.  They are Elementary grade-level fantasy, good for strong readers in second and third grades, 7 or 8 year olds.  They tell of the adventures of young Lily, last of  family of Dragon Slayers, who sets off to slay a dragon and save her kingdom...and ends up becoming friends with the Dragon Queen. 

Lily Quench and the Treasure of Mote Ely is the third of the series, and the only one I've read.   Lily is kidnapped and dragged back into the past.  There she must search for a long lost treasure, keep a rampaging dragon from killing her and the friends ho have followed her back in time,  while thwarting the bad guys.

It's fairly standard light medieval castle adventure, perfectly fine, but not remarkable.  What makes it interesting from a time travel point of view is that the attacking dragon is Lily's own dragon friend in the present...who of course has no memory of their friendship.   A nice twist, that's surprisingly rare in time travel books.

In any event, if you do have an elementary school-aged kid who likes medievally adventures and human-dragon friendships, this is a perfectly fine series (and it is always a lovely peaceful feeling as a parent to hook a kid on a series...).  If you are not such a kid yourself, there's no particular reason to read this, although I did not mind reading this one.   Apparently (based on a Goodreads review) Lily is more of an active heroine in other books, which may well make those more appealing to older readers...

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