This excerpt is from the book, Napsha, the Miracle Dragon, the first in a series of books written for children. The story explores love and friendship in a way that captures children’s imagination and gives them an opportunity to think about issues that will have a major impact on how they choose to live their lives. I believe parents who are concerned about what their children read will find it a welcome addition to their child’s bookshelf.

...It was late afternoon when the young dragon found Mizrin’s cave. . . The ground shook and smoke belched from its dark entrance as he approached.

Napsha hesitated only an instant before jumping in. He pushed the stunned wizard to the surface just as flames swept through the cave and licked at his heels.

"Stupid," Mizsrin wheezed when he finally stopped coughing. "Clumsy and stupid, that’s what I am! I’ll never be a wizard—not a real wizard."

"I’m sure that’s not true," Prince Napsha said, but the troubled wizard shook his head. "You wouldn’t say that if you knew."
Sinking to a rock, Mizrin turned away from the prince’s curious stare.

"I was working on a spell to make you think you could breathe fire," he said, "but the fire wasn’t supposed to be real. I thought if you believed I could give you such a gift, you would do whatever I asked of you... I planned to hold you captive and tell my brothers I had taken your fire. It wasn’t a very good plan, I know. I just wanted my brothers to honor me for once ... as a true wizard."

The young prince didn’t move. He stared at the ground lost in thought. "You must have a good heart," he said after a lengthy silence, "or you wouldn’t tell me this, but you would never find honor with such a trick, anyway. You’d never be able to believe in yourself. How could anyone else believe in you?"

"My mother and father say it’s not your size or how well you do something that matters. They say to hold truth in your heart and believe in yourself. When you think about it, how else could you believe in yourself? I guess being honorable is just being the best you can be."

"My daughter kept asking me to read the story to her again," one mother said of her seven year old. "One night she was squirming around on my lap. She could hardly sit still. She began to pick out words and read them out loud. It was the first time she’d ever done that."