Miss Fanshawe and the Great Dragon Adventure

Miss Harriet Fanshawe, the great explorer, has heard about the center of the Earth and the fiery dragons' breath that keep its fires aflame. While on expedition in Patagonia, she spots a dragon's nest high up in the mountain. Her only company is Cedric the parrot, her constant companion. Miss Fanshawe carries the dragon's egg in her butterfly net and lassoes the dragon to take back to England. There he's put in a cage for everyone to see. A sinister bird appears, carries off the egg and flies away to a distant crater where it vanishes into its darkness. Miss Fanshawe follows along, in an odyssey to the center of the Earth; this proves to be nothing short of apocalyptic. She faces a black leopard, and passes through a monumental corridor of hieroglyphical columns with infinite extensions, where all sense of time and perspective is lost. With the help of the dragon she saves, Miss Fanshawe reverses her journey back to the world of light. Scullard's Herculean effort to transfigure this grand vision into an illustrated book for children has met with success. Unquestionably, this is one of the most stunning adventures of the year. The cupola of the Magnificent City is cut-out on one page, showing the content of the following spread; this technique is used more than once, with surprising results. Not unlike Cedric the parrot, readers may feel that they too were aboard, traveling from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high. Ages 59. (April)