Middle Grade Sidekick Short Review: Dragonborn (2025) by Struan Murray

cover image of Dragonborn by Struan Murray, published by Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2025.

The Basics

Page Length: 336

Audiobook Length: ~9.5 hours

Grade Reading Level: 3+

Target Audience Age: 8-13

Goodreads Score: 4.29 out of 5

Common Sense Media Score: 8+

Buy it HERE

Setting: Skralla, a hidden dragon training island

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

Topics: Dragons, Family, Secrets, Courage, Magic

Plot: Alex Evans has just turned 12, but she’s not happy about it. She misses her dad, who passed away a few years ago. Ever since his death, Alex’s mom has become extremely protective. Alex isn’t even allowed to go into the forest anymore—the place she and her dad loved most. It’s made her an uptight, overthinker, focusing on anything and everything she can to avoid thinking about her father.

Though Alex obeys her mom’s new rules, she longs to return to the woods. One day, while on a walk, she meets a curious man named Oliphos, and things start to change. It turns out Alex has been sneaking into the forest every night, transforming into a… dragon. Oliphos takes her to a secret island called Skralla—a hidden dragon-training location.

Soon, Alex learns the secrets of a hidden world, filled with fairies, monsters, and, of course, dragons—the most powerful and feared creatures of all. The Great Fire of 1666, the sinking of the Titanic… that was all dragons. They’ve been ruling the world for centuries, and Alex is one of them.

But there are a few problems. First, she can’t seem to transform into her dragon form. No matter how hard she tries, she’s stuck in her human body. Second, an evil dragon named Drak Midna is on the move, hunting for a powerful object that could allow him to destroy the human world.

Will Alex learn to unleash her true self? What other secret powers lie within her? What truths have her mother and father been hiding? Can she piece it all together in time to stop Drak Midna from destroying the world she grew up in?

You might like this book if you like:

• Fantasy board/video games

• Archery, fencing, martial arts

• Spending time in nature

• Books like The Fire Within, Wings of Fire, Anya and the Dragon, The Dragon Warrior, Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow

• Books/movies like: The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Eragon, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, Dragon Rider, The NeverEnding Story

• Movies like: How to Train Your Dragon, Raya and the Last Dragon, Pete's Dragon, Onward, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

• Shows like: DreamWorks Dragons, Dragons: The Nine Realms, The Dragon Prince, The Worst Witch, Shadow and Bone, Avatar: The Last Airbender

  
  

Other books written by this author: Orphans of the Tide series, Eternity Engine, The Secret of the Moonshard

Content

• Language: none

• Sex/Romance: none

• Violence/Scariness: Light violence--dragons and humans fighting, poisoning, injuries. There are a few scenes where animals die. The main character also learns the truth about her dad's death--a drowning.

• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs: none

  
  

Book Talk Read Aloud Section

*What is a book talk? (Watch a how to video here. Read my blog post here)

If you have the physical book, read chapter 1 (pages 5-10)

If you don't, read the same pages in the Kindle reading sample here.