Alison Baird,
The Apprentice Dragons
Salon Books, 2011.

Rating: G

In 1994, Alison Baird struck gold, or perhaps more appropriately jade, with her first novel, The Dragon’s Egg. This book won the Silver Birch award, and went on to be a Canadian bestseller. It is perfectly suited to use in elementary curriculum units, with its cross-cultural characters, fantasy/adventure plot, and effective use of Chinese cultural traditions. After writing two other trilogies, Baird has finally answered calls to provide a sequel.

Ai Lien Feng is still a ten-year-old girl living in Toronto with her parents. Her shape-shifting dragon friend, Lung Wang, has returned to China. But before he left, he began "dragonification" of her three goldfish. When her father notices they have disappeared from their fishbowl, he buys Ai Lien another goldfish, who also joins the process: hence the apprentice dragons of the title.

Ai Lien is becoming frustrated with the whimsical behaviour of the apprentices, and she is particularly cognizant of her responsibility not to betray their existence to any other humans. The challenge becomes even greater when the apprentices hitch a ride in her suitcase as Ai Lien goes with her family on their summer vacation to British Columbia. Their magical powers cause outrageous behaviour of the sea creatures in the Vancouver Aquarium and bring rain to the Okanagan Valley, and they threaten to bankrupt Ai Lien with their newly acquired dragon appetites. Just when Ai Lien is desperate for help, the spirit of her ancestor appears, and he is able to take a message back to Lung Wang. He and his parents, the dragon king and queen, arrive in the guise of Chinese tourists, and travel with the Fengs to the Okanagan. Here Baird finally explains why the mythical monster Ogopogo bears such a resemblance to Chinese dragons! With her friend Lung Wang by her side, Ai Lien and the apprentices are ready to face any challenge.

Baird has found fertile soil, and is experienced with the joys and pitfalls of creating a series. In The Apprentice Dragons, she provides just enough backstory to make sure all readers are with her, and then allows the characters and the culture to drive her plot. Ai Lien is an engaging protagonist, intent on maintaining her special relationship with the dragon world. But it is really the apprentices who steal the show with their charming awkwardness, especially when they change shape into evil doppelgangers of Ai Lien, who must cope with the fall-out.

This book will have a ready audience of those who have already fallen in love with Ai Lien’s story. They won’t want to wait another 17 years for the next instalment.

Thematic Links: Chinese Mythology; Fantasy

Patricia Jerney
Vol. 17, number 1
October 2011

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.