Mythical Creatures: Books with Dragons

mythical creatures dragons
Hello rosebuds!💐

Last year, I started a series on my blog dedicated to all of the mythical creatures in literature. My first post was about mermaids and the second, witches. Today we will discuss dragons!

Just to make things clear, when I say dragons I mean the whole lot. As with most mythical beings, I am aware there are many different categories. Types of dragons include, but are certainly not limited to, wyverns, sea serpents, lindworms, hydras, drakes, and much more.

Disclaimer: While I did read some of these books, a good portion of them I did not. This post is mainly just to help you guys discover the wide variety of dragon books that the world has to offer.

THE BOOKS

1. Dealing with Dragons
by: Patricia C. Wrede

Dealing with Dragons follows a princess who is so bored of being royalty, that eventually she decides to runaway–with a dragon. It is with this dragon and his family that the protagonist discovers not only exhilaration, but a second family as well.

2. The Book of Dragons
by: E. Nesbit

The Book of Dragons is a collection of tales all about, well…dragons, of course! From a dragon made of ice, all the way to another that finds shelter in a post office, Nesbit has it all. This is seriously the best book for both dragon and fantasy lovers alike.

3. The Reluctant Dragon
by: Kenneth Grahame

This wonderful tale was written by the same author who penned the famous children’s classic, The Wind in the Willows. The narrative follows a young boy who has to find a way to save his best friend–a poetry-loving dragon–from being slayed by the townsfolk.

This is a great book about learning to accepting others, but at the same time still manages to incorporate some fantastical elements (dragons) as well.

4. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
by: Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland is a middle grade fantasy novel that follows a 12 year old girl named September. One day while her parents are away, September is met by a figure known as Green Wind. Eventually the Green Wind sweeps her away to Fairyland where she goes on a quest to retrieve a talisman for the Marquess.

The dragon in this story is actually a wyvern, but a dragon nonetheless. Not only does he love books, but his name is A-through-L and his relative is a library. If that didn’t make any sense, I encourage you to pick up this lovely book to learn more. Trust me when I say that you won’t be disappointed.

5. Franklin’s Flying Bookshop
by: Jen Campbell

Franklin’s Flying Bookshop is a wonderful picture book about a dragon who loves to read. Not only that, but he loves reading stories to humans as well. Unfortunately, every person he meets is too scared to talk to him…until a girl named Luna comes along. The pair become the best of friends and talk about their favorite books together. Eventually Franklin and Luna decide to open up a bookshop together–a flying bookshop!

The illustrations in this include lots of jewel tones and are just all around gorgeous. I could not recommend this book enough.

6. A Natural History of Dragons
by: Marie Brennan

A Natural History of Dragons is a fictional fantasy novel written in the style of a memoir. This book tells the ‘history’ of the famous dragon naturalist, Lady Trent, as if she (and dragons) truly existed. Everything is told in first person from Lady Trent’s perspective on how she supposedly, “risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity of dragons”.

This would make a super fun read for those of you out there, who truly wish (or actually believe) that dragons do indeed exist.

7. Tooth and Claw
by: Jo Walton

Tooth and Claw is pitched as “A tale of love, money, and family conflict–among dragons.” It’s basically a Victorian drama, minus the humans. Now, I don’t know about you guys, but that’s all I needed to know. I am SOLD!

8. Seraphina
by: Rachel Hartman

Probably one of the more well-known books on this list, Seraphina tells the tale of an alternative-medieval world where dragons and humans coexist. The main character in this book is especially unique because she is half human, half dragon. More importantly though, it is for that very reason, that she isn’t supposed to exist.

Seraphina is a great option for those of you who love a good dragon story with tons of political intrigue as well.

9. The Dragon Keeper
by: Robin Hobb

The Dragon Keeper is book one in a four book series known as the Rain Wild Chronicles. Written by popular fantasy author, Robin Hobb, these books follow both humans and dragons alike. The story itself takes place in a world where dragons have almost all but died out. When a new hatching of eggs occurs bringing some quite unhealthy dragons, it is up to a group of humans to transport these dragons to a new, safer homeland. Along the way, both tenders and dragons undergo many hardships, betrayals and delights of all kinds.

10. Eragon
by: Christopher Paolini

Eragon is another one of the more well-known dragon books on this list. The story follows a poor farm boy known as Eragon who one day, discovers a blue stone in the forest. As it turns out, this ‘stone’ is actually a dragon egg.

This is a wonderfully fantastical book with tons of magic, adventure, dragon riders, and of course, dragons!

OTHER DRAGON BOOKS: