James A. Owen, Here There Be Dragons (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
What if all the lands of human imagination actually exist? What if there's an atlas of them, the Imaginarium Geographica, someplace, and it's entrusted to a group of Caretakers from our world? What if we could eavesdrop on the circumstances in which a new Caretaker takes over? Those are the questions Here There Be Dragons sets out to answer.
Against the backdrop of World War I, John, Jack and Charles meet in London and are whisked off to the Archipelago of Dreams by Bert and his daughter Aven in the Indigo Dragon, a wondrous, almost sentient Dragonship. Once there, they have marvelous adventures, as is only natural, and save the world in the process. They meet a number of figures from legend and history.
As the jacket flap copy coyly mentions, one of the games of the book, especially for an adult, is that John, Jack and Charles are real historical figures whose identities are revealed at the end of the book. The fun is refraining from cheating and guessing who they really are without skipping to the final chapter to peek. One I got immediately. I identified another of the figures, but put him on the wrong character. The third I'd never heard of before. For bonus points, though, I did place Bert.
I loved this book. It's a real rip-roaring page-turner. It's fast-paced and covers a wide canvas, geographically, historically and culturally. I don't know how many of the references would be lost on the young adults it's aimed at. For that matter, I can't guarantee I didn't miss any, either. I suspect it's the sort of book you can re-read multiple times from different perspectives, trying to see what clues you will pick up that you missed before.
Let's see, what else does a parent need to know? No sex (though a little bit of love, and at least one main character is married). Some violence, but nothing graphic. Ah, yes, and you're going to want to borrow this one from your kids.
The Here There Be Dragons Web site is here with Owen's detailed black and white drawings, as well as doing the glorious cover illustration of the Indigo Dragon.
All in all, this is a winner.
