Struggling with complications at home, including the fear caused by her very ill sister, Yara is increasingly drawn to the mysterious dragon who is watching her in the shopping centre. She knows that it is the last dragon and soon realises that the dragon wants something from her: it wants to give her the only egg.
Can Yara take on the huge responsibility and can she keep the dragon egg safe? A dramatic story with a huge heart that weaves together magic and the everyday to make a story that is delightful and inspiring in equal measure.
From award-winning author Polly Ho-Yen, comes a beautifully illustrated story for readers aged 7+.
Yara has only glimpsed the last dragon on Earth twice. She’s got other things to worry about: her sister is in hospital, her parents are panicking, and her new teacher has labelled her a troublemaker and wants her out. But one evening, in the glow of the lights of the shopping centre in Milton Keynes, Yara finds herself being watched by the last dragon and, before it departs, it leaves her a gift: its only egg.
Entrusted with the care of the last dragon egg, Yara discovers it is more powerful than she could ever have imagined. But there are others who want it and they’ll stop at nothing to steal it for themselves...
A moving story about bravery, self-belief and our responsibility to protect the natural world. The story has a strong environmental message and themes of conservation and preserving nature.
Polly Ho-Yen used to be a primary school teacher in London and while she was teaching there she would get up very early in the morning to write stories. The first of those stories became her critically acclaimed debut novel Boy in the Tower, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and FCBG Children’s Book Award. All four of her middle-grade novels – including Fly Me Home, Where Monster’s Lie and How I Saved the World in a Week – have been nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Polly’s previous younger fiction novel, The Boy Who Grew a Tree was shortlisted for the Teach Primary 2022 book awards, and featured in the 2023 Read for Empathy collection (primary). The book is also currently shortlisted for the inaugural The Week Junior Book Awards, in the Younger Fiction category.
She lives in Bristol with her husband and daughter.