Dinosaurs to Dragons and The Last Ember

Shreeve, Elizabeth and Violeta Encarnación, Violeta (Illustrator) 

Dinosaurs to Dragons: The Lore and Science of Mythical Creatures 

July 21, 2026 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Do you have a lot of fantasy readers who are inquisitive and also LOVE mythology? This book has a lot of great connections between literature, science, and a wide variety of fantastical creatures!

Griffinsm, yetis, bunyips (which were new to me!), krakens, fairies, phoenixes, unicorns, mermaids, Quetzalcoatl's, and, yes, dragons, all get their due. There are about eight pages devoted to each, and I loved that the entries all followed the same format. There's a "Let's imagine" section that gives us an introduction, some literature, maps, and why stories were told about particular entities. There are photographs and illustration to help draw parallels between real life animals, and a good amount of scientific research and thought. The addition of more legends are lore will be appealing to readers who really want to know more about a particular creature. 

Middle school readers are fascinated by mythology, and I can still remember my own seventh grade language arts assignment where we had to take a scientific phenomenon and write our own myth explaining it! The introduction gives a brief description of how stories were told in Ancient times to explain things that people couldn't understand. 

This was well formatted, but the E ARC seemed incomplete and did not include back matter, which I suspect the finished copy will have. 

Dinosaurs to Dragons is a great book to have for all manner of fantasy readers, Dungeons and Dragons players, and students whose love of the mythical and the scientific is nicely balanced. 

Dodd, Lily Berlin. The Last Ember (The Aerimander Chronicles #1)

November 18, 2025 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Public Library copy

Eva Alexander lives in the Kingdom of Claucus, in Porttown, where she attends the Young Ladies' Royal Academy of Science. When her father sends her a voucher for Bronsworth's Department Store, she doesn't buy herself the tiara or jewels her father expects; she buys a box with a shiny substance in it that she thinks is rubidium, an explosive element. We have read earlier that this came from a man who was killed on a ship. We also meet Dusty, who lives at St. Icabod's orphanage and has recently had a Mark appear on him identifying him as a member of the Thieves' Union. He is tasked with stealing the object from Eva. Also interested in the box is director Eoin Parnassus, who refers to it as "the weapon". Eva and her roommate, Myrnie, do some research and suspect they may have an aerimander egg. This is significant, since all of the dragon like creatures in the kingdom were thought to be killed. When a mishap causes the egg to adhere to Eva's hand, the two want to consult Dr. Frogg, a cryptoecologist whom Myrnie admires, but instead Eva ends up being kidnapped by Dusty, who is working out of the Lurid Ferret tavern. She manages to escape by bribing a bartender to slip poppies into Dusty's drink, and gets Dr. Frogg's help in removing the egg. The scientist wants to hatch the egg and take the Aerimander to the Northern Isles, which Eva doesn't like. Myrnie is looking for Eva, with the help of a man claiming to be a soldier. Dusty is trying to locate Eva, riding along on a rented horse named Gourd. The egg fuses to his hand in another mishap and eventually hatches into an Aerimander Eva names Rubi. Parnassus is on the trail, too, and the groups all serendipitously come together in the Meadow District, where there is an epic showdown that ends in a violent death. Rubi vanishes, and Eva is sent to another school, Brydhaven. Dusty checks in with the orphanage, but the last scene is of rocks being thrown at Eva's window at school. The First Flame, book two, comes out November 17, 2026. 

Strengths: This was a complicated fantasy, with chapters alternating perspectives, but I was able to follow the story. There is a somewhat cozy feel to the setting of the Ladies' Academy, and I liked the idea of Eva wanted to study science rather than be concerned about her clothing or boys. The Thieves' Union is intriguing, and there's an Oliver Twist feel to Dusty's backgroung. Director Parnassus is just pure evil. The concept of an Aerimander is an intriguing one, and I would have liked to have seen more of Rubi. This was well woven together, and had a convincing world. I can see this selling well at holidays as a gift for avid readers. 

Weaknesses: I do have readers who like books where the characters interact with dragons, but there is relatively little dragon in this first volume. This 350+ page book just sets the scene, and I'm not sure my readers will stick with it. The pseudo Victorian setting feels a bit dated and just the tiniest bit twee; I suspect the young author was a fan of Pullman's The Golden Compass and read a lot of fantasy books in middle school. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for fans of Townsend's  2017 Wundersmith: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, Steadman's Skandar series, or Rundell's Impossible Creatures.