The house with a dragon in it

Review by Booklist Review

When a sinkhole appears in the Pattinsons' living room, Summer can't help but feel she is somehow to blame. Her foster family is at a loss as to how to explain it and cautions the children to steer clear of the crevasse until someone can repair it. But late one night, Summer hears a voice coming from the hole's depths and climbs down after it. That's how she comes face-to-face with an ancient dragon and gains possession of an equally ancient glass bottle, sealed with wax and labeled, "Contains one Witch. DO NOT OPEN." But open it she does, and, with a puff of black smoke, two figures emerge: "the spirit of a witch," aka Sarah, and Tobias, a talking cat. Much like a released genie, Sarah promises to grant Summer three magical wishes and to spare the girl when wreaking vengeance on the town. As Summer ponders her situation, weighing deep desires, such as for love and acceptance, against wanting to keep the town safe, the fourth-grader is swept into an unexpected adventure that reveals true friendships and family, as well as the power of names and forgiveness. Adorned with Gravett's emotive charcoals, Lake's succinct fantasy manages to deliver exciting action without compromising Summer's emotional and moral struggles. She battles bravely on all fronts, and readers will adore her for it.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

---

Review by Horn Book Review

When Summer, a detached and frustrated fourth grader, shouts at her foster father, "You're not my dad," a sinkhole opens in the living-room floor, and everything starts to get out of hand. Beneath the floor, in a huge cavern, Summer discovers a dragon, a sword in a stone, and a potential treasure. She eventually finds herself in possession of the treasure: a bottle with a witch inside and a "DO NOT OPEN" label. This warning goes unheeded, and once released, the witch promises to grant Summer three wishes. Still struggling to establish her place in school and with her foster family, Summer has plenty of big wishes ready to go, but unfortunately, they come at a cost. Interjected throughout the dramatic story are comic breaks provided by the witch's smug cat, Tobias. Gravett's moody, fantastical art punctuates the chapters with extra personality, deftly building tension or slowing it down at key plot points. With the support of well-drawn secondary characters, including true friend Aishwarya and librarian Mrs. Brathwaite (who is well-versed in the tricky history of witches and the power of words), Summer stands up to the trouble she has created for herself and for those she cares about. Summer (unwittingly) marches new fantasy readers through a number of tropes that will introduce them to the genre as she discovers that many wishes can be fulfilled without the aid of magic. Julie RoachJanuary/February 2025 p.84 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

---

Review by Kirkus Book Review

A young girl unleashes a wish-granting witch. Fourth grader Summer has never had a key to the house where she lives--she knows that foster parents don't trust her not to steal. She does have a best friend, Aishwarya, and her current foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pattinson, bought her the first brand-new school uniform she's ever had. But one day, after she shouts "You're not my dad!" at Mr. Pattinson, a sinkhole opens up in the living room. No one is sure what to do, so they carry on living with the giant hole--until the night when Summer hears a gravelly voice and discovers a dragon, surrounded by human skeletons, guarding a treasure in a cavern at the bottom. After she helps the dragon by pulling a sword from a stone, it gives her a bottle labeled "Contaynes one witch. DO NOT OPEN." Breaking the wax seal and removing the cork, Summer releases the spirit of a witch, who grants her wishes--but they come at a price. Summer uses her wits and kindness to navigate the perilous events that follow. Summer's characterization is authentically shaped by her childhood experiences: She retains fond memories of her mother (the reasons why they're no longer together aren't specified) and at first holds the Pattinsons at a distance. Gravett's charmingly expressive illustrations add to the worldbuilding of this well-paced story. The main characters present white. An emotionally resonant and empathetic high-stakes adventure.(Fantasy. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

---

Chapter One Chapter One The sinkhole opened up in the middle of Sunday lunch. In the middle of the living room, too. The hole appeared just after Summer had shouted something really loudly, almost as if her shouting had made it happen. What she shouted, precisely, to the man at the other end of the table was "You're not my dad!" Which was accurate --Mr. Pattinson was her foster father--but perhaps not useful or kind , as her fourth-grade teacher would have told her. It was, in Summer's opinion, deserved, though, seeing as Mr. Pattinson wouldn't let her eat her roast beef with all the trimmings until she'd said grace, and she didn't want to say grace. "You're not my dad!" she said, really quite loudly--and then the living-room floor fell in. Not in a small way, either, if living rooms can even fall in different ways. No, the noise was exactly the sound of an entire room collapsing into a massive, great hole in the ground that hadn't been there a moment before. Which is to say, it was loud. They all got up from the table and rushed through to the living room in a tangle of limbs. Summer bashed into one of the Original Children, Oscar, or he bashed into her more likely. She almost tripped when the littler Original Child, Ethan, got under her feet in his haste to see the damage. They all stood and stared. For once, Mrs. Pattinson had nothing to say. (Mrs. Pattinson always had quite a lot to say and, when Summer had shouted, was opening her mouth, presumably to say quite a lot about politeness, when the living room turned into a crater.) "Um...," said Mr. Pattinson, which was actually something he said quite a lot. Summer had pointed this out once, in what she thought was a reasonable response to him laughing about how much she supposedly said "like," and it turned out Not to Be Polite. Mrs. Pattinson had strong views about what was polite and what wasn't. "That's a big hole," said Oscar. (Who could be relied upon to make the observation so obvious and stupid that no one else would bother to make it.) Excerpted from The House with a Dragon in It by Nick Lake All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

---