The New Kid at School (1997)

This book was funny. I liked how Wiglaf used jokes to slay the dragon. ( )

Wiglaf was destined to be a cabbage farmer; that was before the minstrel came one winter. After convincing his father to let the poor man stay, he ends up spending his free hours hearing stories, especially those about dragons and dragon hunters. Before leaving, the minstrel told him that he was going to be a hero when he grew up.


Months later, he and his family comes upon a sign advertising the "Dragon Slayers' Academy". He ends up getting the chance to go and be a hero (though the reason was that he wouldn't be missed and if he did succeed they would get a lot of money...or so they thought). So setting off on his new life with his best friend Daisy the pig, he ends up at the Academy. Almost after he gets there, he gets sent to defeat the dreaded dragon Gorzil with his new friend Eric. The only problem is that Wiglaf hates harming any creature. So now he has to figure out how to kill a dragon whom many have died trying to kill while discovering that things at the Academy are not all that they seem.


This book is a fun read. It reminds me of Harry Potter meets How to Slay a Dragon. It's has its hilarious moments and is easy to read. Also, I loved how the author gave hints to the true identity of Eric throughout the book. ( )

Publishers Weekly
This first episode of McMullan's (Nutcracker Noel) Dragon Slayers' Academy series is a silly, good-natured spoof on tymes of olde when dragon slaying was the chosen pastime of the bravest hearts. When a minstrel befriends young Wiglaf, he relates tales of a fearful dragon and bequeaths to the boy a rusty sword that is magicalthough he can't recall the words that will activate its power. Before wandering off, he predicts that the boy will one day be a "mighty hero." Wiglaf then spies a notice advertising a school with just the classes he needs to achieve that lofty status (e.g., How to Stalk a Fire-Breather and 101 Ways to Slay). He and a classmate eventually best a beast by discovering its secret weakness: an intolerance for bad jokes. This caper, at its most comical moments, incorporates Monty Python-esque slapstick and language ("We shall go thitherward to carry out our plan!"); it also sinks to some gratuitous grossness (slime from Gorzil's nose "spattered on the ground in greasy yellow puddles") and over-the-edge inanity (Wiglaf's dragon-slaying crony, Eric, confesses he is actually Princess Erica, daughter of Queen Barb and King Ken). Children will have a few phrases to groan over, yet plenty to chuckle about with these Arthurian-era antics. ( )

This is an easy book for people that need to get books read for school. It has less than a hundred pages. This book is about Wiglaf, a boy that doesn't fit in with his family and they don't really need him, and when a fortune teller tells him that he will become a hero then he is on his way to Dragon slayers academy where he is taught how to slay dragons. After one day he is sent to kill his first dragon Gorzil with his friend Eric. ( )

Wiglaf lives with his peasent brothers, mom and dad. When they go to a festival he goes to the message tree and sees a poster with a sign up sheet about Dragon Slayers Academy but he can only go there if he has coins. Because he doesn't, he has to work like washing the dishes.
I recommend this book for e who like adventure books. ( )