by Robin Bennett
Published on:  June 19, 2019

If Stan Pollux had known he would be spending the rest of his summer holidays in the outer reaches of our solar system, he would have put on different underpants.

In Space Dragons a boy named Stan has a lot of things on his mind – mainly his telescope that was broken by his little sister.   But that all changes when he gets kidnapped by a space dragon, who actually turns out to be rather friendly.  Apparently Stan had been in contact with the Particle of Light, which is what caught the dragon’s attention –  even though Stan has no idea what that is.  But then Stan’s sister gets kidnapped too, but this time the dragon that kidnaps her is not so friendly.  So Stan and Mercury (the friendly dragon that kidnapped Stan) go seek advice and assistance from the other dragons in order to help free his sister and save the universe.

What I didn’t expect, but should have, was how Roman mythology is woven within the story.  Each dragon takes on some of the characteristics of the Roman God his or her planet is named after.  Children reading this book will not only learn about our solar system, but also about Roman mythology.  Every dragon is unique – from their body color to their flame color to even what their body is made of, such as water or gas or rock.  Readers will find that many of the dragons have some type of similarity with that dragon’s home planet.  In addition, various space or planet facts is provided at the beginning of each chapter.

The story is engaging and very likeable and funny. I read the first sentence to my 10-yr old nephew and he started giggling – I think it was the ‘underpants’ part.  But, I must admit there were one or two parts that made me giggle too.   I did find the pacing at the beginning of the story a little uneven – getting to when the dragons enter the story is the main attraction and I feel the story leading up to that part could have been a little shorter in some areas.

I can definitely recommend this book, with the only notable item that kids that are not from Great Britain may need help in understanding some of the slang. I look forward to when it becomes released so that I can purchase it for my nephew.

Thanks to NetGalley and Monster Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.