An illustrated adventure story for pre-teens from the award-winning author of Emotional Orphans! * * A fun book for kids that entertains and teaches at the same time. FULL-COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS on the Dragon Camp Blog: www.dragoncamp.info and on INSTAGRAM: dragoncampbook "Deceptively simple and beautifully illustrated, Dragon Camp powerfully illustrates the magic of healing relationships. This engaging story follows a group of irascible dragons - the kind most people I've up on as hopelessly irredeemable - and their novice camp counselor, Max, through their adventures at Dragon Camp. As each dragon faces his or her personal challenges under the caring and perceptive eyes of the camp's hosts, suspicion and hostility give way to self-compassion and hope. Wisdom, glittering like gemstones strewn throughout the story, draws on deep understandings derived from both sides of the healing relationship. On the way to finding validation and acceptance of their deep-seated feelings of anger, grief, and alienated loneliness, the youthful dragons learn that 'mistakes are how we learn' and that anything is possible when we truly believe in ourselves. Their transformation from delinquents to dragons deserving of second chances and fresh starts builds on a deep belief in their potential conveyed by teachers who, importantly, 'see through the fault to the need.' Dragon Camp carries a message of hope to young people in deep need of help, and to those who would seek to help them." - Nancy Vanderheide, Ph.D., Psychoanalyst and Author * * * * "Cate Shepherd, as usual, writes with great heart. Her novel, Dragon Camp about a group of delinquent and semi-delinquent juvenile dragons at summer camp made me feel as if I were being warmly embraced even while its campers got into all sorts of trouble, whether because they were pitching food fights, throwing punches, lighting fires, or going AWOL. Cate offers the readers, along with the dragons, methods to master their "lizard brains" through such devices as Dragonometers and STAR (you'll have to read the novel to find out what this means!). She also offers up humor, lots of it, some of it subtle, some not so much. For example, consider the names of the adult humans at the summer camp: Mrs. Cleerheart, Dr. Sear, and Mr. Yuni. And the artwork by Doug Jennings burns and sizzles with originality. So, make yourself some Drowsy Dragon tea, sit down and take a stroll through Dragon Camp." - Suad Campbell, Author * * "It's Summer! Mischief and mayhem are in the air! Teen-age delinquent dragons have been shipped off to Dragon Camp to be shaped up. There's Raif, who has one last chance before he's sent to the dungeon; Molly, who's shy and doesn't want to get out of bed, Phil, who keeps disappearing, and Nate and Sammy who are always going after each other. Will Max, the young counselor ever get his anger under control and be able to help these youngsters? Perhaps with the help of wise Mr. Yuni and kind Mrs. Cleerheart something magical will happen!" -Terri Drake, Psy.D., Psychoanalyst and Author * "Imagine you're a troubled, young dragon who finds that life is always rubbing your scales the wrong way. Perhaps you're a small, pink dragon who's shy, or a big, red dragon who finds it difficult to control your fire-breathing anger. Where might you turn for help? The answer, of course, is Dragon Camp. Cate Shepherd's imaginative story is chock-full of relatable teen-aged dragons facing personal dilemmas. With help from the human and dragon camp counselors, the young dragons learn to overcome their problems and discover keys to growth and hope. Following the adventures of this of amusing and mischievous dragons, the reader may just pick up a hint on how to improve his or her own life. Come join the fun at Dragon Camp. There be dragons here. What more could you want?" P.S. Doug Jennings' illustrations are wonderful -John Edward Mullen, award-winning author of Digital Dick