The Dragons of Wayward Crescent by: Chris d’Lacey (Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction)

Lucy’s mom, Liz, creates clay dragons that can sometimes transform into real, miniature dragons by adding special snow onto their nose as they are created.  Liz created a live dragon named Gauge who likes to measure time.  He keeps track of the time to make sure Lucy goes to bed on time and brushes her teeth for a full two minutes.  The town council plans to destroy the library clock to add a digital clock since the old clock it is so old and does not work very well.  Liz protests the town council’s idea with posters and a peaceful sit in at the library.  Lucy brings Gauge to the clock because she wants him to fix it with his powers.  Lucy does not want to protest and if Gauge can fix the clock, she will not have to join in on the protest.  At the library, Councilman Trustable and his assistant, Mr. Higson, work to try to break the clock until they are scared away by the ghost of Sir Rufus Trenchcombe, the town’s old clockmaker.  Gauge fixes the clock’s machinery so it can work again but the sequencing of the chimes is still wrong, so the councilman still plans to take the clock down.  Tourists come to the clock tower to see the ghost and since it becomes a tourist attraction, the town can no longer take it down.

I would use this book in the classroom to help students explore the difference between fantasy and realistic fiction.  At the end of each chapter, I would ask students to write down notes in their chart.  One side of the chart would say “Realistic” and the other side would say “Fantasy” with a line down the middle of the two.  The students would be instructed to write down things that could actually happen on the realistic side and to write down things that are obviously only contained within a fantasy book on the fantasy side.  For example, the protest against taking down the library’s clock would be something they could write on the realistic side, while clay dragons coming to life would be something they could write on the fantasy side.  Since the book contains both realistic and fantastical elements, the students would be able to determine the difference between the two and find out how much of the book contains scenarios that could actually happen to them in their own lives. 

AR Book Finder Book Level 4.5