Cora and the Nurse Dragon
by H.L. Burke
Title: Cora and the Nurse Dragon | Author: H.L. Burke | Pages: 215 | Recommended Ages: 8 - 18
About the Book
Cora's a young girl with two dreams: to be a dragon jockey when she grows up and to own a pet dragon now. She constantly buys "egg packs" at the dragon emporium in hopes that one will hatch into a rare pet-sized dragon, but only gets short-lived mayflies. However, when an unexpected egg does develop into something new, Cora may be over her head.
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My Review
My Review
I was excited to pre-order H.L. Burke's book, Cora and the Nurse Dragon, after reading and reviewing the middle grade reader, Thaddeus Whiskers and the Dragon. I thought I could it read it to Amanda who is almost 8 years old, but it's more suited for older kids and for people like me who are young at heart.
I read it easily within two days. It was lots of fun. H.L. Burke artfully whisked me away into another world of her imagination that comes alive and feels real. It is different to our world, but very similar too where some kids are bullies and some kids are just wanting to live their dreams, and sometimes those dreams can also be a little misguided. The adults (mostly parents of the kids) have important roles in the story too. The main characters are two girls with different strengths whose friendship transcends the barrier of class based on income.
The pace of the story is charged with lots of discovery, adventure, danger, and more. It is steampunk fiction set in a time like the 1920's. Another steampunk work of fantasy by H.L. Burke is Beggar Magic.
Cora and the Nurse Dragon is geared towards a female audience. The topics the characters deal with are very mature and for that reason I recommend this book for girls from age 10 right up to young adults.
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Some interesting facts about the book:
•The first draft (roughly 39,000 words) was written in 10 days; a personal record for the author.
•Facebook fans were asked to give ideas for names of the main dragon. The author liked one fan's suggestion of "Cricket," which in turn inspired the dragon's signature "chirping."
•Cora is named after a friend's daughter, who was going through a health crisis, as a gift to her.
You can find more interesting facts about the book from the author herself, on her blog under, "10 Secrets of Cora and the Nurse Dragon."
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About the Author:
H.L. Burke
Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic.
An addictive personality, she jumped from one fandom to another, being at times completely obsessed with various books, movies, or television series (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek all took their turns), but she has grown to be what she considers a well-rounded connoisseur of geek culture.
Married to her high school crush who is now a US Marine, she has moved multiple times in her adult life but believes home is wherever her husband, two daughters, and pets are.
For information about H. L. Burke's latest novels, author news and events, or to contact the writer, go to the H.L. Burke author website.
You can read my interesting interview of Heidi here.
You can read my interesting interview of Heidi here.
Disclosure: I pre-ordered a Kindle copy of this book for my own pleasure and this is my honest review.
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