Premise of Book

The idea of suggestions for what to serve dragons for tea came as a result of a facebook party. Fellowship of Fantasy’s Book Club had their book party and I received multiple posts on my author page of what readers would serve a dragon for tea. I took their ideas and expanded upon them to create this book. So what would you serve a dragon if it stopped by for tea?

New Book Celebration

Want to celebrate with me? I have several things for you. Grab a copy this week, and receive stickers and tea to enjoy while you read your book. All you have to do is sign up using this form. You can also join the facebook party and get my mom’s scones recipe, tips on fixing tea, have fun with games, have your own dragon tea party adventure, and enter the giveaways. The party is kicked off but will be most active Friday at 9 pm Eastern/ 6 pm Pacific. You can also enter to win this tea set, a dragon beanie baby, stickers, and two paperbacks of Tea for Dragons. You have two more days to enter. I’ll announce the winner on Friday during the party.

Peek inside

Want to have a peek inside? Here you go.

What People are Saying

Adults will enjoy this as much as kids!

~amazon reviewer

My kids really love the picture style of the illustrations.

~amazon reviewer

A colorful and fun quick read.

~goodreads reviewer

You can find Tea for Dragons on most outlets. Be sure to grab yours today.

Another of my favorite fantasy books is Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. My sixth grade teacher read it to us. My imagination was captured with Milo’s adventure through the tollbooth. He must bring Rhyme and Reason back to the realm. He has to get the two brothers (leaders of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis) to agree. Through it all he has the Watchdog to help him stay on task and not waste time. Naturally, when I heard of a book that was in the same vein, I wanted to read it. I wondered if it would live up to the original and was delighted to find it did. The King of Average by Gary Schwartz follows James, a boy who’s told over and over again that he won’t amount to much and decides he’ll be the best average he can be. Suddenly, he finds himself in a new land and meeting new friends. His constant companions are Optimist with a pocket buddy Killjoy and Mayor Culpa, the scapegoat. As he searches to find the king of Average, he realizes that he himself might be more than average.

Another classic fantasy is Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring trilogy. My daughter is currently taking a college course on Tolkien literature. A friend of the family that I babysat when he was little showed up as Dawnya and I began to argue over how a certain scene from Two Towers played out. Finally, I had to give in to her “I know, I just read it!” I had mixed up the movie with the book. Granted, the last time I read it was just before the movie came out, and have watched bits and pieces of the movie repeatedly since then. Meanwhile, our friend stood dumbfounded that we were geeking out like that. When he discovered Dawnya actually was taking a class, it made more sense to him.

This though goes to prove one of my soap box themes–read to and with your kids! It builds memories and shared experiences. You’re able to talk about characters as if they are family friends. You can have teachable moments instead of you lecturing them. Just pause and discuss the situation the main, or side, character finds him- or herself in and ask your child, “What would you do?” It becomes a natural way of teaching. Need some ideas for good books besides these? Check out my top 10 plus three list of children’s books or my list of other great books.

As the three men left the inn, they were stopped by the mistress. “Kind sir, I want to thank you for the tea last night. Where did you come by such delicious leaves?”

Kyn bowed to her. “You are most welcome, honored lady. The leaves are handpicked by a woman who is like a mother to me. She has yet to share the origin of her blend. I have tried different blends of my own, but there is none quite like hers.”    

Blurb:

In search of his place in the world, Kyn visits his new friend, Ben’hyamene. Together, they meet an ailing dragon rider from the marshes of a land called the Carr. The rider recounts a people beset by anger, depression, and despair. After befriending and healing the rider, the group travels to the rider’s home. There they discover a breed of wild dragons, called drakes, which have been at war with humans for four hundred years.

One sleepless night, Ben’hyamene uses his new abilities to communicate with the lead drake. This sets Kyn and Ben’hyamene on a path that could bring peace to a conflict that’s nearly destroyed a whole people. Can revenge be set aside and enemies be called friends?

Find out in the exciting third book of the Dragon Courage series, Dragon’s Revenge by Kandi J Wyatt.

It was at the moment when he couldn’t force himself to continue that he smelled Meredyth’s tea. The smell took him away from the little log cabin and placed him into a familiar abode in Three Spans Canyon. Ruskya, Carryl, Meredyth, and Ruskya’s great-uncle Glendyn all sat around Glendyn’s stove. Kyn could see them clearly. They had sat that way many times, the five of them talking over a mug of Meredyth’s tea. The emotional drain lifted, and Kyn could think clearly. He was brought back to the little log cabin by Ben’hyamene’s voice.

Trailer:

Available Tuesday, April 5, 2016.

Cover:

So what is the story about?

Every child of Woolpren dreams of becoming one, but only a few are chosen. Now, ten-year-old twin brother and sister, Ruskya and Duskya, have been selected to join an elite group of riders: dragon riders. Full of awe and excitement, the twins leave their mother, and their home, to train for their new lives.

Fifteen years later, dragons are becoming extinct and riders are rare. One day, Ruskya is at the general store in town when a man announces that he is recruiting new dragon riders. Ruskya goes undercover, and discovers that there is another colony of riders with their own agenda—a quest to find a mysterious plant that could restore the dragon population, or destroy it. When a battle erupts between the two colonies, it’s up to Ruskya and his friends to fight for their dragons’ future, and their lives.

Follow Ruskya’s quest in this exciting young adult fantasy series by new author Kandi J Wyatt.

The book will go on pre-order at amazon soon. It will be released on August 10th.

The last several weeks at school, my Spanish 2 students have been working on a fantasy story. The majority of them thought the story up in English and then are translating it over into Spanish with varying success. The real success though is watching them work. The process was noisy to begin with as they looked at the fantasy motifs and hero’s round that I handed out. They talked and talked and talked. “Hey, what about…” “I know, I’ll…” “What if the dragons become dinosaurs!” Then as the stories were shared with their classmates and put into English, the noise level dropped. They studiously began working on translation. They learned a lot about how to transfer ideas into another language. Finally, they began talking again as they illustrated their books. “Would you draw a dinosaur for the army?” “Here’s my story” “My illustrations will never compare to yours!”

These stories though have great potential for children’s books. We have the dinosaurs versus elephants with a mighty glowing peanut and a spatula made from lightning from the gods. We have an angel who falls in love with a “man” who turns out to be the god of Hades; they have a little girl who is watched over by a special person. We have a twist on Hansel and Gretel. All of them deserve recognition.

Every once in a blue moon, one of these types of stories makes it into the publishing world–Tom Bombadilo from Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Peter Pan, Dragon’s Future. Wait! What was that last one? Yep, a story that I wrote and read to my son will be published by Booktrope. It is scheduled to come out this summer. Because my story managed to make it into publishing, I have encouraged my students to try. Why not dream big? Why not put forth the effort to put your story into someone’s hands? In the meantime, the Spanish stories will be turned in and then cherished by some of them. I wish I could mass produce a few of them. But I will encourage them to grow, learn, keep trying, and above all–Dream Big!

As I had kids, I looked for fantasy and science fiction books that I could share with them. Timothy Zahn’s Dragonback series was one of those fun finds. I read the story of Jack and was immediately hooked from the first chapter with the shipwreck. It was fun to read it with my husband and then to see my kids read them. They loved it as well. The struggles of Jack to try to clear his name and move from thief to a poet warrior give hope to kids and make the reader cheer him on.

It wasn’t always that I showed books to my kids. Sometimes, they found a book and said, “Mom, you have to read this!” One such book was “Mom, you have to listen to this!” They found Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke in an audio book. We sat down in their room and listened as Brendan Fraser worked his magic with Cornilia Funke’s words. Sorrel the Brownie came to life as did Ben, Firedrake, Twigleg, and Nettlebrand. The characters still to this day have his voice when I read the book. The interactions of these characters with each other make the book work and make readers love it. When I teach students to write a children’s fantasy story in Spanish, I use excerpts from this book to show them character development. You can read an excerpt of Dragon Rider online.

The last two years, I had the privilege of spending 50 minutes each day on a one way road trip to school with my now seventeen-year-old son. We found the best way to spend the time, and stay awake, was to listen to audio books. We found all kinds of books. Some that were okay, but not great, and others that made it to my top 10 plus three list of children’s books. One of these was Beyonders by Brandon Mull. The story weaves from the real world into a fantasy world. Jason reaches it by falling into the hippo’s mouth! Literally! From there, he finds himself an unexpected hero. He must fight against the emperor to try to put the Blind King back on the throne. Jason works with another girl from the real world who followed a butterfly into the magical realm. Jason has an opportunity to return home, and must decide if it is worth returning to finish the quest. They go through numerous adventures as they try to fulfill the quest. It is well written, page-turning (if you’re reading it, CD changing if your listening) and encourages the reader to follow after good.

If I haven’t given you enough ideas for a book, then check out the other posts this week from Children’s Book Week. Whatever you do, find a book and curl up and read. Read to your kids, read to your family, read to yourself. Enjoy!

My kids enjoy a book read to them by their grandpa.

Jim Kjelgaard introduced me to the world of the man and his dog. He created worlds of wonder where dogs loved men and boys and the impossible was possible. Big Red was the first one. A poor boy who loved Irish Setters works at a kennel and falls in love with a purebred dog. There is no way at all believable or imaginable that he will get a dog. As the story unfolds, the reader is drawn into the boy’s mind and his world. The reader cheers the boy on wanting what he wants, loving the dog he loves. Other stories told of tame dogs gone wild. Desert Dog tells of a dog that was dropped off in the middle of nowhere. The reader wanders with the dog as he fights for his life. It is truly an inspiring tale. To read some of his stories online, go to http://jimkjelgaard.com/. Jim Kjelgaard wanted boys to desire reading. He wrote for that junior high boy who doesn’t want to read. So, if you have a boy in that situation, see if you can tease him into reading using Mr. Kjelgaard’s books. They also work well for young girls.

The next series of animal stories I found was Walter Farley’s Black Stallion series. Again a poor boy (not as dirt poor as in Big Red) dreams of owning an animal, this time a horse. Alec is shipwrecked with a wild black stallion. The story takes you through their time on the island and how Alec works at befriending the Black. The two become inseparable–or so the reader thinks! The series follows Alec and the Black and then children of the stallion. Again, the underdog is the one the reader cheers and applauds. Children are encouraged to dream and reach for the stars.

The final animal series that caught my attention as a child was Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague. Two children find a pony and work with her. The three books follow the brother and sister and Misty and her foal through several adventures. The underdog is the hero, and children see everyday life on the island of Chincoteague. Marguerite Henry wrote several other horse stories about famous horses. She wove the same love of horses into those stories as she did into her Misty books. You can learn more about the Misty books and the real world of Chincoteague at http://www.mistyofchincoteague.org/misty.html.

Know a child who loves animals? Want a good read yourself?  Want a look back into time when kids roamed the streets without fear? Take a look at these fun children’s stories.

My son’s horse. He purchased it for $1 just like Alec.

1. Vocabulary:  The author doesn’t talk down to the audience.  The reader may learn new vocabulary from reading the book.  Rockjaw threw the rat over one shoulder, chatting to lieutenant Morio as he did.

‘Wot does the Major mean by arboreal verdance, sah?’

‘Hmm, arboreal verdance, lemme see, I rather think it means treetops, leafy green ones.’

‘Oh! Then why didn’t ‘e say treetops?’

‘Why should he when he knows how t’say words like arboreal verdance?’ Redwall series.

2. Characters:  They are memorable and work well together.  These are the kind that you want to really get to know and meet in real life.  You want to walk into the book to meet them.  The hero is real—he makes mistakes and learns from them.  “My values are not based on violence. My values are based on courage, which you see time and time again in my books. A warrior isn’t somebody like Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. A warrior can be any age. A warrior is a person people look up to.” ~ Brian Jacques from http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?topic=308.0 

3. Protective Character:  There is always some wiser and maybe older character to whom the main character can turn to for help.  There’s a Gandalf for Frodo, an Uncle Press for Bobby Pendragon, a Draco for Jack, a Mr. Drew for Nancy, or a Firedrake for Ben.

4. Good vs Bad:  There is a definite line between good and bad.  The two don’t get confused.

5. Plot:  The story moves along with lots of action and imagination.

I hope this helps in understanding what makes a good kid’s book. These are things that not only appeal to children, but what they need as they are shaping their world.

1. Jim Kjelgaard books. Big Red wa the first, but there are many more.
2. CS Lewis and his Narnia books
3. Carolyne Keene and her Nancy Drew books
4. Julie Campbell Tatham and her Trixie Beldon series
5. Timothy Zahn and The Dragonback series
6. Cornelia Funke and Dragon Rider and Inkheart series (for older kids)
7. TJ MacHale and Pendragon series again for older kids
8. Norton Juster and The Phantom Tollbooth
9. Brandon Mull and the Beyonders series
10. Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson with Peter and the Starcatcher series
11. Walter Farley and his Black Stallion series
12. Marguerite Henry and Misty of Chincoteague series and several more horse stories
13. Brian Jacques and Redwall series 

Well, there you have it. I’ll devote a post to each and add some links where you can find the books, where you can find more information about them, and even compare the books to the movies where applicable. In the meantime, happy reading!