Dragons!!!
Nory and her Upside-Down Magic class are going on a three day class trip to Dragon Haven, where injured dragons are taken care of. Unfortunately Pepper can’t attend because her fiercing magic would scare all of the dragons but the rest of Nory’s class are ready for this adventure, including their teacher, Ms. Starr, and the school nurse, Nurse Riley (whose first name we find out in this book – Felix!).
I enjoyed getting to know Andres better in this book. In the first three books of the series he’s primarily only been the boy on a leash who floats at the top of the UDM classroom because his upside down flying magic doesn’t allow him to do anything but stay airborne. It was lovely to see him interacting with other flyers and given the opportunity to let loose for a while and learn more about his ability.
Ms. Starr is still my favourite character. I wish I had been able to see her magic in action with the dragons. She’s such a sweetheart; so lovely and supportive and I want a teacher just like her.
“You’re letting yourself shine,” she told him, “and it makes me happy.”
Although she does make some mistakes in this book she quickly owns up to them and apologises.
I loved getting a glimpse of the different types of dragons being cared for at Dragon Haven and it was fun seeing Nory identify what type of dragon she becomes when she’s a dritten (part dragon, part kitten). I hope Nory returns to Dragon Haven in a future book to visit Roarie. I definitely didn’t like it when Nory took the baby dragon when it hatched after she’d been specifically told that it would imprint on the first face it saw and how bad that would be if it didn’t imprint on another dragon.
The fact that she didn’t have any consequences for doing this and making all of the staff worry about this missing baby dragon overnight really disappointed me. While it was nice for the story that when she gave up the baby dragon for another dragon to care for the fact that the baby essentially didn’t even give her a second glance as it left negated the whole concept of imprinting for me.
Of all of the wonderful dragons described in this book my favourites were the luminous dragonettes. I need an entire rainbow of luminous dragonettes! They’re the smallest species of dragon and they light up like fireflies!
While there was bacon in this book the food I craved the most while reading was Nory’s waffle sandwich with hot fudge, whipped cream and hot caramel sauce. 🤤
I love that while each of the books in this series focuses on Nory as the main character there’s also a spotlight put on at least one of her UDM classmates. I’m really looking forward to learning more about Willa, who has the ability to make it rain indoors, in the next book.
Once Upon a Blurb
Nory Horace can turn herself into a kitten. But sometimes she adds in a bit of dragon and, well, accidentally turns into a dritten. Oops? Her friend Andres Padillo can fly high … but then he can’t fly back down again.
Nory and Andres are in an Upside-Down Magic class with other kids who have unusual magic. Now they’re off on their first-ever overnight field trip! At Dragon Haven, Nory, Andres, and their UDM classmates get to swim with dragons, fly with dragons, and feed dragons. There’s even a Hatchery, where they might get to see a newborn dragon.
There’s only one downer. The UDM kids aren’t the only ones visiting Dragon Haven. There are other students there, too. Students from another school. Students with “normal” magic. Dragon rescue, bonfires, and pajama breakfasts won’t be nearly as fun with a bunch of snooty strangers.
Unless … maybe everything isn’t as bad as it first seems. Thrown together with kids who are probably enemies, but might be friends, the UDM kids dive into their topsy-turviest adventure yet.
Schizanthus Nerd 