The Dragonet Prophesy by Tui T. Sutherland

This kind of fantasy book is not my favorite genre. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by how the story drew me in and kept me coming back for more until I had finished the book. 

It is the story of five different races of dragons who hatch at the same time and grow up together. They include Clay, the Mudwing, Glory, the Rainwing, Sunny, the Sandwing, Tsunami the Seawing, and Starflight the Nightwing. They have been raised by a group of harsh teachers, who under the directions of the Talons of Peace, have kept them hidden underground from the rest of the world.

It is their destiny, or so they have been told, to end the perpetual wars between the different groups of dragons and bring peace to their world. 

This book, the first in the series, is told from Clay's perspective. The group flees from the cave after discovering that their teachers plan to murder Glory. After a harrowing escape, the dragonets end up captured by the evil Queen Scarlett of the Skywings. She plans to have them battle in her Colosseum as
entertainment before she ends up killing them all. With the help of Peril, the Queen's champion, they manage to escape.

I liked that this book has enough plot twists and turns to keep the story interesting. The individual characters of the dragonets are developed enough for the reader to connect with them.  While there are moments of violence, it wasn't enough to scare me off, or have me skipping sections. (I am a wuss about this generally.) Indeed, when the main characters are in the middle of it, the violence is often accompanied by a kind of moral analysis of the situation. 

 I will definitely recommend this book to fantasy readers, but I still haven't decided if I will read the rest of the series. I think this one was relatively satisfying and will leave it to the kids to tell me what happens in the rest of them.

I couldn't help but make a personal connection between this book and the school where I work. We are a mix of cultures here at Dickens - children from many different backgrounds become friends and work together to make a difference in the world.  I think that our children, like these diverse dragonets, who have learned to live and thrive in conditions of multiculturalism, are proof and hope that the rest of us across the planet can learn to live together in peace.