Author: Maddy Mara
Illustrator: Thais Damião, cover art by Steph Lew
© Date: 2021
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Pages: 135
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Yes, however many page layouts do not have illustrations
Publisher Recommended Age: 7-10
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No
Summary from Book: Willa and her friends have a powerful magic inside them-they each have the ability to transform into a Glitter Dragon Girl. They can breathe glittery fire, soar through the air, and communicate will all the creatures who live in the Magic Forest.
Willa and her friends are gathering ingredients for a special potion. The troublesome Shadow Sprites are after the Tree Queen’s magic again, and it can only be save by Dragon Girls. Willa is leading their quest, but she’s scared of what might happen if they don’t succeed. Can she embrace her inner fire in time-or will the forest be lost forever?
Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this a short bit ago.
Page Pig Thoughts: I was not a fan of the last dragon series that I read, so I was reluctant to read about dragons again. I was happy to discover that Dragon Girls was a decent read. I enjoyed the magical creatures that they met, in particular, the sea-donkey and invisible squid ink, what fun ideas.
I did not latch onto the characters or story, but I could see children really getting into these books. They follow the Daisy Meadows Rainbow Magic Fairies story base: girls have a secret magical place that they visit, girls have magical objects that transport them to the magical land, the girls help save magical creatures/places, the girls are transported back home.
Page Pup quickly read this one, then continued on to other Dragon Girls books. Apparently the Glitter Dragons are just a few books in the series. The Treasure Dragons are different girls that visit the same forest, but turn into Treasure Dragons with different skills. Page Pup appreciated that each dragon got an animal companion, some were particularly cute. This series gets a Page Pup thumbs up, and Page Pup is continuing to work through all of the Dragon Girls available at the library.
Family Unit: Not sure that they were mentioned, mostly focuses on Willa’s friends, Naomi and Azmina, that can also turn into Glitter Dragons. Naomi was one of Willa’s oldest school friends. Azmina was new at school, but Willa knew that they would be friends from the first time that she saw her.
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Willa has confidence issues that she is navigating. She is self conscious because her flying skills are not as good as her friends’ skills. She thinks that she will lose the magical apple. She is concerned that her friends won’t like her ideas. She is concerned that she does not belong as a Dragon Girl.
- The Shadow Sprites are bringing darkness, cold, and fear to the Magic Forest.
Positive Items:
- Willa discovers that she has her own unique talents that make her an amazing Dragon Girl. Her swimming, ideas, and bravery save the day.
- Sometimes we just need to see what comes our way to solve our mysteries, not get stuck worrying or overthinking things. The Dragon Girls did not know exactly what the magical object in the deep ocean would be, but the answer presented itself anyway.
- The girls work together and support each other, even when they don’t feel confident themselves.
Items of Interest:
- The Shadow Sprites might be kinda creepy to a younger or sensitive child.
- Willa was swimming in a pool at the beginning of the story, and grabs a magical shell from the bottom of the pool to be transported to the Magic Forest.
- Willa meets Delphina, a flying silver dolphin. Delphina seems to randomly come into parts of the story to rescue/help her when she needs help. Willa does not even say goodbye to Delphina at the end of the story, which made Delphina feel like a magical device to assist in tricky plot points.
- The Glitter Dragon Girls were called to the Magic Forest to help the Tree Queen. Evil shadow sprites had been gaining strength and turning the forest into a place of gloom. Places in the normally turquoise river were even turning cold and murky gray. The shadow sprites work for the Shadow Queen, who used to be the cruel ruler over the whole forest.
- Willa gets caught by some Shadow Sprites in a tree. The Shadow Sprites whisper the dark doubts of Willa’s mind to her, which makes her cold and worried. Delphina rescues Willa.
- The Tree Queen gives a list of three items to the Glitter Dragon Girls to collect. The magical items on the list will make a potion to clean the water that has been turned into shadow water. The items are to be collected in a magical silver apple that Willa has to carry. Willa is concerned that she will lose it, but the Tree Queen says that she believes in Willa, and Willa should believe in Willa too.
- The Glitter Dragon Girls meet magical creatures that have the items on their list. A worry bird that worries about everything has a magical egg. A sea-donkey has a tear, the Glitter Dragon Girls are relieved when they discover that the tear can come from a happy sea-donkey because they didn’t want to make it cry. A kid squid has invisible ink.
- Willa is very self conscious about her flying skills. She cannot fly as well as her friends, but her strength is in her swimming. She feels at ease in the water, and her strong swimming skills are what enable the Glitter Dragon Girls to collect the last of their items.
- Naomi and Azmina were being pulled into a dark Shadow Sprite whirlpool in the water. Willa is a strong enough swimmer to pull both of her friends out of the whirlpool and to the water’s surface. Willa discovers that while her friends are strong in the air, she is opposite and is strong in the water.
- Willa was being pulled deeper into the water by Shadow Sprites. She gets emotional and lets out a giant roar that creates bubbles that scare off the Shadow Sprites. The roar creates magical bubbles that the Dragon Girls can put over their heads to breathe underwater.
- The Dragon Girls have magical roars that create dazzling colored glitter clouds.
- Willa comes up with the ideas for dispersing the magic potion into the water (making a glitter cloud and using the waterfall).
- Willa discovers that she can surf on air currents.
- After dispersing the magic potion, they are rewarded with a smile from the Tree Queen. Then they hold onto their magical items and chant the magical words to be transported back home to the place that they started their journey from. Naturally, barely any time passed at home while they were gone.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
- Book 1 – Azmina the Gold Glitter Dragon
- Book 3 – Naomi the Rainbow Glitter Dragon
- Book 4 – Mei the Ruby Treasure Dragon
- Book 5 – Aisha the Sapphire Treasure Dragon
- Book 6 – Quinn the Jade Treasure Dragon
- There are many others, but these are the ones that Page Pup read…for now