Cute story of a boy who gives his grandfather a pair of eggs that hatch dragons. A slight story, but it would be perfect for children who are transitioning from picture books to chapter books. ( )

When Peter gives his grandfather two red speckled eggs for his birthday, neither expects to find two baby dragons in their place the next morning. Delighted with their new pets at first, Peter and his grandfather are dismayed at the trouble which ensues. Jealous pet owners and meddlesome "pest" control officers convince them that they must release the dragons to their natural habitat – the sea.

A charming early chapter-book from the author who adapted the Aeneid for children (In Search Of A Homeland), recently reprinted for the American audience, Dragon Trouble reads like a simpler variant on Bruce Coville’s Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher or Sara Sargent’s Weird Henry Berg. The edition I read was part of the Yellow Bananas chapter-book series, and was illustrated most delightfully by Andrew Rowland. I believe that this title was originally published in the UK in the 1980s, however, with illustrations by Valerie Littlewood. ( )