The Menagerie #2: Dragon on Trial

These are fun stories. My daughter really enjoys these books.

If you have not read the first Menagerie book I strongly suggest doing so prior to reading this book, mostly because the first book is wonderfully written and funny and it also gives you a greater character background than the obligatory few lines provided by the author in this book to reorient the reader. Plus there are griffins and griffins are just awesome.This book picks up where the prior left off, the evil goose that laid the golden egg, Pelly, has disappeared and it looks like she has been murdered. SNAPA, the group that oversees menageries is at the menagerie in Wyoming run by the Kahn family when the grisly scene is discovered. Naturally it looks like one of the dragons did it (especially because Pelly is a very LARGE goose) because apparently even though SNAPA pretends to be enlightened to the unique form of mythical creatures, dragons are still mindless eating machines (I hate this stereotype in stories...). They plan to have a trial so the scary Exterminator will not have to dispose of Scratch, the alleged killer.There is a much grander plot afoot, including setting up the third book in the series (which I will eagerly await!), far beyond the menagerie. I will not include any spoilers as I do not want to disappoint your journey through this wonderful book. I will say I was a wee bit disappointed in the authors as every time the dragons are questioned, they answer like Yoda. "In trouble is Scratch..." or "Saw nothing did Clawdius".I am also pleased the authors included a glossary with all the mythical creatures they mention and hand drawn pictures of what they might look like as I was unfamiliar with several creatures they mentioned including a quilin.This a charming story you can read at bedtime (it is hardly scary and quite funny in parts). I read it in one day as I just could not put it down. I look forward to many more books.

I read to my son every night and as a result go through books rather quickly. Finding books for him to read on his own and books that we read together can be difficult. We stumbled on this series and absolutely love it. I look forward to these books as well so if they don't interest me as well as my son they get put aside in favor of another choice. This is book two in an ongoing tale and brings us closer to fully understanding what is happening at they Menagerie of Mythical Creatures. In this installment evidence of foul play is discovered in the death of one of the mythical creatures of the Menagerie. This evidence points to the culprit being one of the Menagerie's Dragons but our young protagonists don't believe the dragon could be involved so they embark on a mission to determine what really happen. They uncover different clues and reassess their thoughts on the matter as new evidence comes in (good life skill) and in the end uncover a surprising end. I won't spoil it for you so read the book.The characters are well thought out and while they seem wiser than their years the story doesn't suffer for it like so many other books. The writing is clear and descriptive without getting in the way and so far I haven't run across any themes that would be of a concern - provided of course you don't have a problem with Unicorns, Griffins, and Dragons of course.

Amazing book, great storyline.

What I loved about this book is that it is so intense and kind of confusing and there are red herrings and plot twists! I would recommend this book to ages 9-14 and also to readers who like mystery, magic, and adventures.

I love reading these with my son, he is 10. I see that some of the reviews talk about being a little young for them, but this is clearly a children's book. We enjoy reading this together, we take turns reading it before bed and we love the fast paced and unpredictable circumstances. We are in the middle of the Kraken of Lies now so as far as it having an abrupt ending that was not an issue since each book picks up where the other one leaves off. We are enthralled by this world they have created and hope there are more books to come. I recommend this book to everyone we know with kids his age. Offers great quality time together for us and isn't so terribly long that we get bored and feel like it is just dragging on like Eragon did since we only read a chapter or 2 a night.

Such a good series, very well written. Interesting plot, well written characters and wild adventures. The only thing that could make it better is a second series as a continue on! As a mom this is one of my top three books to have read with my daughter since we started chapter books. (The others being Wings of Fire & Upside Down Magic).I would very much like to see more of these characters!

Good book thx . Filling space not sure what to say. My 11 year old son loves Tui Sutherlands books

I bought this set of books for my grandson who loves the author. He liked them.

Mi hijo de 14 años es fan indiscutible de esta escritora y como se leyó en tiempo record toda la serie "wings of fire", le compré esta para vacaciones....acabó el verano y los leyó todos.

Liked the book

i said at top so cool go go go go best ever yeah its great you should by it its sorth it geat it oh why mjsg i put in twenty words it is soooooooo anoying

Great book