But in "The Dragon in the Library" by Louie Stowell, with illustrations and cover by Davide Ortu, Louie writes a deliciously original story that dips into two things we love a great deal - mythical creatures and books.
Meet Kit. Kit is not your average library-dweller, in fact truth be told, Kit would rather be anywhere else but stuck indoors in a dusty old place full of books.
She doesn't love reading, but when two of her best friends drag her along to the library, something rather strange happens - and Kit makes a discovery that could completely change her attitude to books and the library itself.
Kit meets a dragon, and not just any old dragon but a book-loving mythical creature. But what will happen when the truth gets out, and when the entire library is put in danger of being closed for good?
We're playing a bit coy here, because this is the sort of book we don't want to ruin even the tiniest story morsel of for you. Suffice to say that in under a week's time you'll be able to pick it up and two things will happen.
1) You will fall completely in love with Kit and her scaly new friend
2) It could, just could turn your head if you're a bit of a reluctant reader too.
We loved the pace of it, we love the lusciously atmospheric descriptions that make you feel almost like sneezing as you find yourself amongst the dusty tomes of the library, but most of all we just adore the idea that writers like Louie are out there, and getting stuff like this published - chock full of originality and positivity in a world that desperately needs a good dose of both. We also love Davide's illustrations for this, which set the scenes perfectly. Fab stuff, more please!!
Sum this book up in a sentence: A brilliantly fleshed-out and realistic female central character (that we dearly hope to see popping up as a cosplay character on World Book Day), a good dose of magic, and a cause that we can all pin our banners to and bend the knee to, celebrating the importance of libraries, reading and books (and dragons of course, yes!!)
"The Dragon in the Library" by Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu is out on 6th June 2019, published by Nosy Crow (kindly supplied for review).