The Crouching Dragon (Will to Conquer, 1)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent to engage non-readers as well as the gifted.
Review: As ELA Curriculum Coordinator k-12 at Cairo-Durham CSD I have ordered five copies for our "Reader's Corner" designed to have students read for pleasure. It will rivet their attention with the constant action. I am also investigating ordering a class set for interdisciplinary study. Social Studies can investigate the three time periods of William the Conquerer, WWII, and the reign of Charles Degaulle. English classes would rewrite different endings and discuss the moral dilemmas involved. Art would investigate the paintings mentioned as well as the architecture of the dragon and the period it was built. Music would investigate lute music and technology could work on recreating a lute or a medieval breastplate.Math could work on the metric system. French could investigate the culture of the region. Depending on students' ability level a distict could use this 8-10. For adult readers there is an incredible amount of action as well as a great picture of theCalvados region of Normandy. I always looked forward to travelling to Omaha Beach, however; now I've got to budget more time to see the entire region. Although the ending depends on a great deal of coincidence, it doesn't detract from the overall quality of the book. I learned a lot, and it was a truly pleasurable read

Rating:
Summary: Better than Harry, a great young adults story!
Review: Boy, an education and an adventure all in one. I couldn't put it down. I actually read 258 pages in less than four hours. That's a record for me. I'm twelve years old and found the language level just right. I especially like the mystery embedded in the adventure story rounded out with european history. I strongly recomend this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Cover that Doesn't Dissappoint
Review: Hi my name is Clayton. I am 11 years old. I read this book because I believe sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. If the cover has something like a big grassy plain and is called Velvet Roses, I can tell I won't like it. But if it has a big dragon and is called The Crouching Dragon, even metaphorically, it obviously has a good topic. I read this book and ten pages into it I knew I was right. The thing I liked about it was that it describes a situation that every boy wants to be in, but doesn't involve doing somthing completely impossible like in Harry Potter. It was never too hard to follow, yet always enjoyably strange and challenging. I would suggest this book to anyone, no matter what kind of book you like.

Rating:
Summary: A Cover that Doesn't Dissappoint
Review: Hi my name is Clayton. I am 11 years old. I read this book because I believe sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. If the cover has something like a big grassy plain and is called Velvet Roses, I can tell I won't like it. But if it has a big dragon and is called The Crouching Dragon, even metaphorically, it obviously has a good topic. I read this book and ten pages into it I knew I was right. The thing I liked about it was that it describes a situation that every boy wants to be in, but doesn't involve doing somthing completely impossible like in Harry Potter. It was never too hard to follow, yet always enjoyably strange and challenging. I would suggest this book to anyone, no matter what kind of book you like.

Rating:
Summary: A book that is able to keep a student's interest.
Review: I am a Librarian/Media Specialist at a MS/HS in upstate New York. I have just finished the book and would recommend it to both my Middle School and High School students. I liked the way the author combined a knowledge of the French countryside with a mixture of the mystery of castles and a historical perspective of World War II. It kept my interest so much that I read the book in two sittings.

Rating:
Summary: Heroes Everyone Can Relate To
Review: I really loved reading The Crouching Dragon. We need more heroes that we can follow, not comic book ones like Xena or ones like Buffy fighting enemies that don't exist in the real world. Both my brother and I loved reading the book and since he is in 4th grade and I am in high school, anyone over age 8 should love this book too. We both have read the Narnia books and the Harry Potter books, but the heroes in those books need magic to overcome their enemies. The great thing about The Crouching Dragon is that the heroes beat their enemies by banding together and supporting each other instead of needing magic. Another great thing is that one of main characters is a woman who does not have to act like a man to be a hero. I love to read history and I want to go to Europe as soon as I can so I loved the parts of this book that described France in such detail that I felt like I was there.

Rating:
Summary: HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR TEENAGERS
Review: I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED IT AND MY TEENAGE NIECE LOVED IT! SHE SAID IT REMINDED HER OF THE HARRY POTTER STORIES---ONLY BETTER BECAUSE WILLI AND LOUISE USE THEIR IMAGINATION TO SOLVE THEIR OWN PROBLEMS IN THE REAL WORLD. I'M BUYING COPIES FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.

Rating:
Summary: Crouching Dragon
Review: My only problem with The Crouching Dragon is that it kept me up all night reading it. This is one of the best adventure stories I've ever read, with characters I really care about and one surprise after another. What a terrific ending. I guess I'll just have to read it again while I'm waiting for the author to deliver the next book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: It Can Be Done
Review: Not hyped full of magic, but grounded in reality entertainment. A pleasant variation on the stuff being fed to growing minds, this young adult novel cleanly transcends fiction. Archtypes we all have to learn to live with present themselves in touchingly real-life dramas. The Crouching Dragon captures and grows imagination while we're educated in history, geography, art & craft - even a foreign language. These kids could run with the Hardy boys! This middle aged guy looks forward to some more enjoyable looking back through Lamensdorf's "will to conquer" series.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting read for young adults/or the young at heart
Review: The Crouching Dragon blends fact with fantasy revolving around the adventures of a group of teen-agers who tresspass into a medieval castle full of unexpected surprises.