asandwich

Dragons at Crumbling Castle is a collection of stories that Pratchett wrote as a teen for a local newspaper, repurposed and republished all these years later as a children’s book.

And it actually works rather well.

All of the stories in this collection are playfully silly, irreverently whimsical and utterly ridiculous - which, let’s face it, is exactly what you’d expect (and hope for, given the target audience). For fans of Sir Pterry, there’s plenty of evidence in these early, simple tales of the witty word-play and nod-and-a-wink satire that would become staples of his style over the following years.

The artwork is extremely Quentin Blake-like (though not actually by Quentin Blake), which instantly conjures mental images of the more famous works of Roald Dahl - a clever (if ever-so-slightly sneaky) bit of marketing by the publisher there. It does suit the book though.

Anyway, if you have young children to read to, or are a Pratchett completionist, you really don’t have anything to fear from this one.