The Last Dragon

About this book

This book is set in a totally familiar, everyday world in Milton Keynes... except there is still one dragon left. She flies around the world and is deeply beloved.

12-year-old Yara isn’t actually that into the dragon herself; she has other things to worry about. But Yara’s younger sister George is obsessed. George is really sick and has been in hospital for months, and Yara is incredibly worried about her.

Their family moved because of George's illness and for Yara, everything is upside down and awful. She hates her new school and is starting to get a reputation for being badly behaved, after a lifetime of being good.

Then Yara has an encounter with the dragon that changes everything. It leaves her an egg before it flies away. It’s a gift of great power that might even help her sister get better, so now Yara has to be incredibly brave and daring and escape the Dragon Detection Squad.  

This is a brilliantly written story. It’s in first person, so a reader can get into the head of Yara, and the encounter with the dragon is beautifully described.

But this book isn’t just about dragons; it’s about family, and especially the power of sister bonds. It’s also about friendship. Yara makes friends with Bertie, a non-binary 12-year-old, using they/them pronouns, who is bullied for being different.

It’s a book about being who you are, which is not always how people expect you to be. But it’s also about a real-life dragon in Milton Keynes!

About the author