SOLVED. Children's Fantasy - Boy tries to return to a blue baby dragon to the mountains after his village kills its mother

[Carla]

I read this book when I was in elementary school in the mid to late 90's. The main character of the story is a boy who lives in a village that kills dragons. At the beginning of the book there is a celebration because the village has killed a great blue dragon, which is a big deal. After the celebration winds down, the boy is near the corpse of the great dragon and finds that the dead dragon was a mother, and that her still alive dragonlet is with her. I think the baby was in a kind of kangaroo-like pouch? Anyway, the boy decides to return the baby to the dragons in the mountain, where it can be cared for, even though dragons are his people's enemy. Along the way the boy and the dragonlet become very close, and the boy realizes that the baby dragon is an herbivore, which challenges everything he was taught about dragons. My memory gets a bit fuzzy after that. I know the men of the village go after him, and that there is a confrontation at the end where surprisingly his mom (and the women of the village?) are on the boy's side. I adored this book and any help is much appreciated!

[Carla]

After years of pulling my hair out over this, I found it (of course, just a few hours after making this post). The book is The Dragonling by Jackie French Koller. Sorry and thanks!

[Rainbowheart]

Glad you found it!

The Dragonling for the link.