June 3, 2025 by Charlesbridge Moves
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
In 1890s Anstruther, Scotland, Cat Douglas is excited to be a member of the Royal and Ancient monster hunters squad, which is lead by the teacher of her one room schoolhouse, Mr. Harris. This is especially important to her, since her father was lost at sea. Along with Callum and Jamie, she is prepared to drop everything and go take care of monsters that endanger the local population. The trio is well armed, and even paid for their efforts, which helps out Cat's family a lot. When a farmer has his cow eaten, the hunters find the culprit in a cave, lure him out, kill him, and haul the body off to be used as bait for a menacing sea dragon. When Ann McLeod loses her sons at sea, this creature is to blame. The local culture supports the "no body, no closure" philosophy, so the Royal and Ancient members set out to both find the boys and hopefully take care of the dragon as well. They borrow the McLeod's boat and take off, but are soon dragged out to sea. Ending up at an island, they come across a young dragon choking on a fishing net, which makes it easier to kill him. Having done so, they worry that the dragon's mother might be lurking in the caves on the island. Investigating this leads them to find the McLeod boys, who are alive but not well. They also discover a number of dragon eggs that they smash. In the ensuing battle with the dragon, old family secrets are revealed and Cat proves herself a valuable member of the monster hunters.
Yolen, who has written over 400 books in her 86 years, harnesses her experience of living in Scotland by incorporating a lot of history, local color, and even some dialect into this short novel. There are plenty of details about equipment needed to deal with monsters, and some rather gory chopping up and carting away of said prey, which brings the thrill of the hunt down to earth.
Lowenthal's art appears in several graphic novel style spreads, including the one that ends the book, as well as a couple of full page illustrations. The end papers mimic the beautiful marbled designs found in vintage books, and the cover under the desk jacket looks like it is embossed with a dragon's head. Even the reverse of the dust jacket is well designed-- there is a poster for the book, and the sequels will also have covers that can all be displayed to form one larger poster.
This reads like a title I might have seen thirty years ago; it hurt my heart when Cat and her fellow hunters were smashing the dragon eggs! My students are far more likely to want to befriend and train a dragon than to kill it and cut it up for bait. The Scottish dialect might be hard for some readers; I knew what a "clootie" was, but some of my students would probably stop cold and return the book, especially since it took some time to figure out that this was set in the 1890s.
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