Longtime fans of Dungeons and Dragons will recognize all of the dragons included in this slim, elegant manual. Those of us who began playing back in the 1970s know these dragons by heart. However, we've never seen the material presented quite this way.
My son and I read together all the time. We enjoy a lot of fantasy novels, including the Harry Potter books, and he gets totally captivated by imaginary creatures. Last night, while perusing the new releases in the book store, my son discovered this book. The first time I noticed that he had it was when I realized how quiet he had gotten. Though he enjoys reading books with me, he doesn’t necessarily enjoy watching me look through the racks. He’s nine, so he can fold up and sit on the floor anywhere.
Last night he was folded up reading this book. When I asked what he was looking at, I could see the excitement in his eyes when he showed me this book. I recognized the guide immediately as Dungeons and Dragons material, but the usual TSR and/or Wizards of the Coast logos were nowhere to be seen. I looked at the publisher and realized it was Mirrorstone, an offshoot of the Wizards of the Coast publishing arm that directs books at young readers.
My nine-year-old loves to read about animals. I don’t know how many times he’s come home and told me about animals he’s read about at school. If he’s not a zoologist, then he’s going to be well-educated when it comes to animals. Even imaginary ones!
The book is wonderful to look at. I flipped through the pages with him and talked about the times I had played Dungeons and Dragons and had to fight to the death against some of these creatures he was so in awe of. Of course, he was mortified that I would even think about killing dragons. I tried to explain that some of them were evil and some of them had gold and treasure I wanted. He told me that dragons were entitled to their homes and that I was greedy. I didn’t even bother to explain about experience points. I could only imagine my son’s character getting charred in someone’s campaign while trying to save dragons.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!