Jane and the Dragon

Last updated
Jane and the Dragon book cover JaneAndTheDragonBookCover.jpeg
Jane and the Dragon book cover

Jane and the Dragon is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Martin Baynton. The original trilogy consists of Jane and the Dragon (1988), The Dragon's Purpose (1989), and Jane and the Magician (2000). In 2008 two further books followed: Three's a Crowd and A Dragon's Tail.

Contents

The first book features Jane, a young girl whose mother is a lady-in-waiting to the queen. Jane is expected to grow up in her mother's footsteps, but wishes to become a knight. When the royal prince is kidnapped by a dragon (who lives near by the kingdom), Jane sets out to rescue the boy. She does and becomes a squire in the process. She does not slay the dragon but instead befriends him, and they soon become best friends. Their adventures continue in the next four books.

Baynton says that the inspiration for the books came from his wanting to write "a story about a girl who wanted to follow her dreams despite the expectations of her family and friends" and from a young girl telling him "how she hated fairy stories because the girls were wimps". [1]

The book series inspired an animated series on television.

Dragonblade

In 2022 Martin Baynton started publishing Dragonblade, A Jane and the Dragon novel. It is available to read online on the new Jane and the Dragon website. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's 1985 science fiction novel Ender's Game and its sequels, as well as in the first part of the spin-off series, Ender's Shadow. The book series itself is an expansion, with some changes to detail, of Card's 1977 short story "Ender's Game."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Yolen</span> American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and childrens books (born 1939)

Jane Hyatt Yolen is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella. Her other works include the Nebula Award−winning short story "Sister Emily's Lightship", the novelette "Lost Girls", Owl Moon, The Emperor and the Kite, the Commander Toad series and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight. She has collaborated on works with all three of her children, most extensively with Adam Stemple.

<i>Jane and the Dragon</i> (TV series) Childrens animated television series

Jane and the Dragon is a CGI children's animated television series based on the books of the same name by Martin Baynton. The show is directed by Mike Fallows and the motion capture is directed by Peter Salmon; it is co-produced by Weta Workshop in New Zealand and Nelvana Limited in Canada. The series follows the comedic exploits of Jane, an adolescent girl training to be a knight, and her friend, Dragon, a talking, flying, 300-year-old, fire-breathing dragon.

Deltora Quest is the collective title for three distinct series of children's fantasy books, written by Australian author Emily Rodda. It follows the adventures of three companions as they journey across the fictitious land of Deltora, endeavouring to recover the seven gems stolen from the magical Belt of Deltora and defeat allies of the evil Shadow Lord. The series was first published in Australia in 2000 and has since been published in more than 30 countries. The series has sold over 18 million copies worldwide, including over 2 million in Australia. It is published by Scholastic in Australia and the United States. In most countries, the series is illustrated by Marc McBride.

Martin Baynton is a British author, illustrator, and TV producer now living in New Zealand. His children's book Jane and the Dragon (1988), has become a modern classic which has since been adapted for television and produced by Weta Workshop and Nelvana. His books have been widely published in the UK, US, Spain, France, New Zealand and Australia. Baynton has also illustrated books by other leading writers including Russell Hoban and Kenneth Grahame.

<i>How to Train Your Dragon</i> (novel series) Series of childrens books written by Cressida Cowell

How to Train Your Dragon is a series of children's books written by British author Cressida Cowell. The books are set in a fictional Viking world, and focus on the experiences of protagonist Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, as he overcomes obstacles on his journey of "becoming a hero, the hard way". The books were published by Hodder Children's Books in the UK and by Little, Brown and Company in the US. The first book was published in 2003 and the 12th and final one in 2015. By 2015, the series had sold more than seven million copies around the world. The books have subsequently been adapted into a media franchise consisting of three animated feature films, several television series and other media, all produced by DreamWorks Animation.

<i>Aunt Janes Nieces</i>

Aunt Jane's Nieces is the title of a juvenile novel published by Reilly & Britton in 1906, and written by L. Frank Baum under the pen name "Edith Van Dyne." Since the book was the first in a series of novels designed for adolescent girls, its title was applied to the entire series of ten books, published between 1906 and 1918.

<i>The Book Thief</i> Novel by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, and is his most popular book. Published in 2005, The Book Thief became an international bestseller and was translated into 63 languages and sold 16 million copies. It was adapted into the 2013 feature film, The Book Thief.

Tony Shillitoe is an Australian fantasy writer.

<i>The Fire Within</i> (novel)

The Fire Within is a 2001 children's fantasy novel written by Chris d'Lacey. It is the first novel of The Last Dragon Chronicles, a low fantasy series about dragons in the modern world. The series continues with Icefire, Fire Star, The Fire Eternal, Dark Fire, Fire World, and The Fire Ascending.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil Castellucci</span> Canadian musician, American fiction writer

Cecil C. Castellucci, also known as Cecil Seaskull, is an American-born Canadian young adult novelist, indie rocker, and director. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

<i>Main Street</i> (novel series) Childrens novel series by Ann M. Martin

Main Street is a children's novel series by Ann M. Martin aiming at age group 8–12. It was published between 2007 and 2011. The story revolves around two sisters, Ruby and Flora Northrop, who move to the small town Camden Falls to live with their grandmother after the sudden death of their parents. The books tell us about the girls' new journey and adaptation in a new town and new people with old memories, and some with rather dubious ones. There, they make new friends like Olivia and Nikki. Olivia's grandmother owns a store with Ruby's and Flora's grandmother.

Polly Dunbar is an English author-illustrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisbeth Salander</span> Fictional character created by Stieg Larsson

Lisbeth Salander is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson in his award-winning Millennium series. She first appeared in the 2005 novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as an asocial computer hacker with a photographic memory who teams up with Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of a magazine called Millennium. Salander reappears in The Girl Who Played with Fire (2006) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (2007), sequels that Larsson had written before he died in 2004.

<i>The Land of Stories</i> Book series by Chriss Colfer

The Land of Stories is a series of children's fiction, adventure and fantasy books written by American author, actor and singer Chris Colfer. The first book, The Wishing Spell, was released on July 17, 2012. The sixth book was published in July 2017. During a live video chat, Colfer revealed plans for a prequel series, which have now been published. The books are described by Colfer as a "modern-day fairy tale", following twins Alex and Conner Bailey as they fall from the real world into a world full of fairy tales they have only ever read about before and discovering there is more to this world than meets the eye.

<i>Wonder</i> (Palacio novel) R.J. Palacio novel

Wonder is a children's novel written by R. J. Palacio, published on February 14, 2012. Wonder was inspired by an incident where her son started to cry after noticing a girl with a severe facial deformity. Fearing her son would react badly, Palacio attempted to remove him from the situation so as not to upset the girl and her family but ended up worsening the situation. Natalie Merchant's song of the same name made her realize that the incident could illustrate a valuable lesson. Palacio was inspired by Merchant's lyrics and she began writing. She named the book directly after the song and used the song's chorus as the prologue of the first chapter.

<i>Lilys Crossing</i> 1997 young adult novel by Patricia Reilly Giff

Lily's Crossing is a 1997 young adult novel by American author Patricia Reilly Giff. It received a Newbery Honor award in 1998.

The Ice Dragon is a children's fantasy novelette by George R. R. Martin, originally published in 1980 in the Ace Books anthology Dragons of Light, as illustrated by Alicia Austin. It was later included in Martin's 1987 collection Portraits of His Children, as illustrated by Val Lakey Lindahn and Ron Lindahn. The story was reworked in 2007 with artwork by Anne Yvonne Gilbert, and again in 2014 with a series of original paintings by Luis Royo.

<i>The Dragon and the Doctor</i> 1971 picture book by Barbara Danish

The Dragon and the Doctor is a 1971 picture book written and illustrated by Barbara Danish. The story concerns a dragon with a sore tail who goes to see a doctor. The Dragon and the Doctor was the first book published by the Feminist Press. The publisher's founder, Florence Howe, had not initially planned to produce children's literature but a notification by a third party in a feminist newsletter that the press would be publishing children's books drew significant interest. Thus convinced, Howe enlisted Danish to adapt the Chinese picture book I Want to Be a Doctor into a new story with a female doctor protagonist.

References

  1. Hughes, Jennifer V. (2009-01-02). "Author Martin Baynton tells us the ultimate anti-princess story". Archived from the original on 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  2. "Home". Dragonblade. Retrieved 2022-06-08.