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Dragon Mountain

Katie and Kevin Tsang
Simon and Schuster
Age 7-11

Billy, Charlotte, Ling Fei and Dylan meet at a camp in rural China. They are there to learn about Chinese culture and language. Little do they realise they are also about to embark on a risky adventure involving bonding with a dragon to defeat the Noxwings and their leader who seeks domination of the human and dragon realms.

An exciting fantasy adventure sprinkled with elements from Chinese folklore with themes of loyalty bravery strength and teamwork. First in a new series of Dragon Realm stories.

Watch a trailer 

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LOVE MY BOOKS Q&A with Katie and Kevin

LMBs  A series must take some planning - what came first for you the characters, the story world or the adventures?

Katie and Kevin  We first had the idea about 4 kids discovering dragons trapped in a mountain in China, and then everything came from there! Once we had the main idea, then we had to figure out who the kids

LMBs  How many books will there be in total?

Katies and Kevin  So far 5….but we’d love to keep writing adventures in this world!

LMBs  What do you hope young readers will gain from the series? ( eg How important is the setting, the combination of characters, the exciting adventure and cliff hangers or the cultural references or something else?)

Katie and Kevin  Most of all we hope to ignite the imaginations of young readers – we want them to be entertained and engaged and realise how magical reading can be.

LMBs  How do you work together when writing the books?

Katie and Kevin  We spend a lot of time brainstorming and outlining together, and then we do a very detailed chapter plan and divide up the chapters to draft, and then we edit each other’s work. We usually write at the same time, next to each other, so we can discuss any ideas and plot issues as they come up.

LMBs  A couple of questions from children - as you will see the dragons are really important to them!

Naomi age 8 says 'I love your books!' She asks, 'Why did you want to write about dragons?'

Katie and Kevin   Thank you, Naomi! We wanted to write about dragons because they are AWESOME! We love that we can put our own spin on dragons too. The dragons in our world are all different and we love coming up with different types of dragons and giving them unique and interesting powers. We also love the idea of a special dragon bond.

Dylan and Esme, age 9 and 7, ask: Where did you get the inspiration for your first book?

Katie and Kevin  We used to live in Hong Kong, and while we lived there we took a trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge in China, and that is where we had the inspiration for the setting of Camp Dragon in the first book. We also get a lot of inspiration for our dragons by watching nature shows. And mostly we are inspired by each other and our own imaginations.

Dylan and Esme  What is your favourite dragon of all time? (from your books or from all dragons).  

Katie  My favorite dragon of all time has to be Spark from our books

Kevin  My favorite dragon from our books is Xing, and my favorite dragon that we didn’t write is Shenron in Dragon Ball Z.

Dylan and Esme  Will there be any new dragons in the new book/s?

There will always be new dragons to meet in new Dragon Realm books 

Talk about the book

  • If you could be any character in the story who would you choose? If you are reading the story with your child you could both make choices and explain why you picked a particular character.

  • What would you tell someone else about this book?

  • The stories of the Dragon Realm will continue in the next book – what would you like to happen next?

Things to make and do

Be an Artist

  • Make a picture of the Dragon Realm, you could include the landscape with a floating lake and a dead forest, the sky with three full moons and some of the strange creatures

  • Make a picture of your favourite dragon – it would be good to do this on a long piece of paper eg lining paper you could use paint or collage with bits of colourful or shiny paper

Be a writer

  • Plan a sequel to Dragon Mountain

The story will continue in the next volume. What would you like to happen next? Plan your first chapter and write an exciting first page.

  • Write a diary. Make a mini folded book. Design your cover. Imagine you are one of the four main characters. write your diary after you meet your dragon and discover your unique power

Create a Dragon Mountain board game

1.Decide on the aim of your game – eg to all get safely back to the Dragon Mountain after rescuing the caged dragons? Remember teamwork is key to the story!

  1. Create a baseboard. You can use the template or create your own. Decorate it – perhaps you could turn the track into a gigantic dragon!

  2. Make a set of chance cards eg ‘Discover your unique power. Go forward 2.’ ‘A tiger is guarding the mountain. Miss a turn.’ ‘You are locked in a mountain go back 3.’

  3. Find a dice and figures or counters to be the players – characters from the story

  4. Write instructions. Play the game with a member of your family or friend.

Did it work well? How could you improve your game, so it is even more fun to play?

See our print-off activity book with some of these ideas and other activities

Find out more

Watch an interview with Katie and Kevin Tsang by the Bookwanders’ club  and read another one here Dragon Mountain: Katie and Kevin Tsang on working together and why we need diverse characters in children’s books | BookTrust

Find out more about Kevin and Katie Tsang 

Read more books in the Dragon Realm series: Dragon Legend and Dragon City