Beware! It's Friday the 13th

Dragon Slayers' Academy #13

by Kate McMullan, Bill Basso (Illustrator)

Headmaster Mordred charges new student princesses "TEN-tee, twwwwenty pennies", not 7 tuition. His sister Lobelia designs lasses' costume with bells. Her niece Erica, not lad Eric, warns bells will scare dragons. Mordred fears Friday the 13th and dons lucky clothes - lacy bonnet, eel around neck. Students copy, but fire-breathing Snagglefahng chases Brother Dave.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Roman, Adventure, Middle Grade, Dragons

107 pages, Paperback

First published January 13, 2005

About the author

Kate McMullan is an American children's book author.
She is the author of the Dragon Slayers' Academy series. She is married to author and illustrator James McMullan.

She also has books published under the name: Katy Hall.

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is late in the series. I think you could get the gist of things without having read the others. I have only read book 1.

The questionably run Dragon Slayer's Academy is accepting princesses in order to raise more money for slaying school.

A dragon comes, presumably to attack the librarian, and some standard Friday the 13th luck symbols are brought out. Kids save the day, sort of?

These don't quite charm me. I could see very young readers enjoying them.

[Shobi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was obsessed with these and the art they ate gross eels and peanut brittle 😍 the dragon and rich girl

[Atbash (Emma) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I realized between this one and the last one that the author seems to be getting her premise ideas from readers (thanking them in the acknowledgements for the idea, which I thought was sweet), and I was totally going to rag on her for that.... but. this one was really strong.

Great continuity between this one and the rest of the series, like the author got some kind of second wind. Callbacks galore– They're continuing with the "girls allowed" plotline, Erica continues to be extremely queer in many directions, and I continue to sigh in relief that the new girl characters aren't treated too unkindly by the text. Janice seems like she might be a permanent fixture in the series, which I'm all for– she's sweet and funny and they need a jock friend. Hoping Gwen stays, too– I was honestly pretty entertained by her preschool rivalry with Erica. And Wiglaf's maybe-crush is the sweetest thing in the world– not too heavyhanded, shows his personality from a slightly different angle without changing it entirely.

But more importantly than anything else: Surekill the magic dagger is BACK!!!!!!! except the narration calls it a SWORD this time? fine whatever WE STAN A GLOW-UP. SUREKILL IS BACK. *AND.* AND. THERE IS A DRAGON IN THIS BOOK. A NEW DRAGON. NOT ONLY IS THERE A NEW ANTAGONISTIC DRAGON. WORM THE PIPLING HAS RETURNED. WE GET TWO DRAGONS AND SUREKILL. IN THE SAME BOOK. What percentage of the series so far actually deals with dragons? Less than 50%, I have to imagine? Needless to say this is a BIG WIN for this book. It took us thirteen books to ride on a dragon, but we did it.

Wiggie and Erica get some nice bonding moments in this one, but the star of the moment is Brother Dave, school librarian and only helpful faculty member, who whispers to himself in horror that the dragon purportedly coming to raze the academy is After Him. Due To His Past. Extremely funny moment. The resolution was equally funny. The dragon himself was a fun character. Like, this one really made me smile.

Part of that was due to the new outro included with this book– no longer a yearbook, but a student newspaper! "Written by students, for students, with no adult supervision." And when I tell you it fucking *sparkles.* I want to read booksful of just these kids writing articles about their interests, little anecdotal tidbits about the world, goofs and gags that don't need to be attached to a storyline. Or something like a guidebook, co-authored by our kids with editorial comments in the margins. The author is trapped writing serialized chapter books that need a plot arc to be wrapped up in fewer than 2,000 words when she really needs to be writing a fictional kid's magazine a la Highlights or Cricket. I would read the shit out of that. I can't tell you how badly I want that.

As a side note: what's going on with the goodreads synopsis for this one. Something happened there.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Janice Smotherbottom, DSA's newest student, happily models new costume for lasses, with bell around hem, blowing "big green bubble of Smilin' Hal's Tree Sap Gum' p 1. Princess Erica, frowns, giving up pretense to be ordinary lad, asking Auntie Lobelia, sister of Headmaster Mordred, "How can we sneak up on a dragon while wearing bells?" p 7. Lobelia misses point, silly drawing shows her and lasses' in new outfits p 6. Mordred new Princess student Gwen for inflated tuition, "TEN-tee, twwwwenty pennies" p 20, instead of previous normal seven. Lobelia tries to hide newspaper with date, but Gwen finds Damsels' Wear Daily advises "This year's big color is - plum" p 25. I'd like to see color pictures.

Mordred finds Fri 13th, "purple eyes began to bulge" p 26. His ailment "triskaidekaphobia" p 33 is "fear of Friday the 13th" p 34. He dons lucky clothes: lacy bonnet, old holey booties, single-shoulder leopard-print wrestling suit, eel wrapped around neck p 32 hilarious. He brings box of bonnets for all students, orders them to collect four-leaf clovers, nail up horseshoes, wrap eels.

Nearby Toenail village cancels Fashion Show because dragon Snagglefahng is "asking directions to Dragon Slayers' Academy, just south of our fair village .. out to seek revenge" p 30 after Brother Dave's recipe for monastery's world-famous peanut-brittle candy "broketh off his four front fangs" p 52. Dave wants to surrender, divert Snagglefahng from the school "meeteth .. surrendereth. Then he needeth not come" p 47. Snaggle orders "THWEAR TO DO ATH I THAY" p 87, dangles Wiglaf, Erica, and Dave from his claws, throws Worm against the wall. Dave vows "Little Brothers cannot sweareth, But I promiseth" p 88. Dave explains the whole monastery lisps like Snagglefahng, not making fun of missing teeth. Dave makes brittle Dragon likes best.

Janice leads DSA charge against dragon flying in. Wiglaf yells "Stop!" p 64. Worm is "hundred times bigger than hatched from purple egg" p 67. Too much going back to before in series. Makes surprises, fun, and nonsense.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the (duh!) thirteenth book in the Dragon Slayers' Academy series by Kate McMullan. Our girls have been reading a few different dragon stories and so this series piqued their interest.

The story centers around a school where children are taught to become dragon slayers, primarily for the purpose of enriching the school's headmaster with the slain dragon's hoard. So far he hasn't been the beneficiary of much dragon gold, but I get the feeling that with 19 books in the series, he will keep sending his students out, hoping to succeed at long last.

It's a very entertaining story, with lots of subtle tongue-in-cheek humor and word play within the narrative. The drama in this book focuses on the unlucky day of Friday the thirteenth, as well as a dragon who is seeking out Brother Dave. Even more girls join the school, too.

It's a quick read and I liked the story. Our oldest has been reading these stories on her own, so I'm reading them quickly to catch up with her in the series. I am sure that we will look for more of the books in this series at our local library.

[Dean Burson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beware, It's Friday The 13th (When the best books come out ) (Like this one) So do take the time to read it.

You know, for a book that takes place on Friday the 13th, it sure is lucky that I read this book because it is good. I hope y'all enjoy this book as much as I did because it's one doozy of a book.

[Bryan Thomas Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suffers from silliness done for the name of comedy. These are people purporting to train kids to kill dragons yet they run in fear and act like they've never seen one. While it's for comedic touches, it really pushed the limits of belief this time around and the story suffered for it.

[En]

5 stars

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Dec 2009 and then again Nov 2010

[Haim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kate McMullan 13th book in this series about events that transpire on Friday the 13th is a clever book, with a lot of wit and charm.

[Payton · Rating 4 out of 5]

its where the the unluckiest day is coming and they have to fight off the worlds most wickedest dragon in the whole wide world.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

its about its friday the 13nth and a dragon is coming to their school so when it comes it says that he says that he wants brother Dave's peanut brittle candy.