B. Create a multi-framed, cartoon-style storyboard for an excerpt from the novel. Or write a short essay explaining why you feel Dragon Magic would make a good fantasy film or television series, making sure to describe your vision for the film or show.

C. Connect your past and present. Interview a grandparent or other family member from an older generation to learn more about your family’s heritage. Or create a family tree going back at least three generations.

D. Using information from exercise III.C, above, write a short essay in which you travel back in time to a place from which your ancestors may have come. If possible, research and incorporate a legend from this period and culture into your story.

E. Survey family members, classmates, or friends to learn how much most people know about their family’s past and whether they think family ancestry is important. Compile your survey results in a short report, concluding with your own opinion about the impact of the past on one’s present-day life.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How many protagonists does the author introduce in the first chapter of Dragon Magic? What do these seemingly very different characters have in common?

2. What is the setting of the opening chapter? How do you feel about your own bus stop experiences? Is the bus stop a fun, friendly, unnerving, or alienating place for you? Can you empathize with the thoughts of the story’s main characters as they wait for the bus? Why or why not?

3. What words, expressions, and references used in Dragon Magic, first published in 1972, seem strange or old-fashioned to you? How does this affect your reading of the story? Despite possible differences in lifestyle and language, do you think kids today have attitudes similar to those of the characters in the novel? Explain your answer.

4. Which character is first to want to explore the soon-to-be demolished house? How does he accomplish this visit and with whom? What are his first impressions of the house?

5. What dragon does Sig assemble? What is the story of Fafnir and in what ancient setting does the tale unfold? How is Sig Claw-hand like and unlike Sig Dortmund?

6. After destroying both Fafnir and Regin-Mimir, what does Sigurd King’s-Son say about the treasure? How do this hero’s words on the final page of Chapter 2 serve as a thematic frame for all of the dragon encounters taking place in the novel?

7. What dragon does Ras assemble? In what place and time does Ras find himself? What is the “sirrush-lau”?

8. With what type of conflict do both Ras and Sherkarer struggle? How is Ras’s understanding of his present-day situation changed by his dragon journey?

9. What character does Artie become as he experiences the Pendragon story? In what way or ways is the dragon represented in this story? In what time and place does his story unfold?