Burn by Patrick Ness
Book of the Week: 21 June 2020

Illustration by Alejandro Calucci

I was thrilled that last week’s Book of the Week, Lark, won the Carnegie Medal. The winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration was won by Shaun Tan for his Tales From the Inner City.

This week’s book takes us far away from the everyday surroundings of Lark to an alternative version of 1950’s America. Sarah and her father are struggling to make a profit from their farm, so they decide to hire the labour of a rare, blue Russian dragon to clear the land. Just as in our version of the USA in 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower is president, small town racism is bubbling under the surface and sometimes erupting into violence, the Soviet Union is planning its launch of Sputnik and the Cold War is ongoing: these are all present in Burn, but with added dragons.

Dragons have an uneasy relationship with humans; they have their own culture and mythology and there are people who distrust and fear them and people who have formed cults about them: they can also talk. Despite her father’s warning about the dragon, Sarah is curious and learns that Kazimir (the dragon) is there because of a prophecy that actually involves her. If all this sounds a little ‘fairytale’, the introduction of a ruthless teenage assassin, and two FBI agents who are on his trail, dispel that completely, in fact there are some realistically violent action scenes.

Later on in the book there are some surprising set pieces that seem ideal for an action movie. As you would expect from Patrick Ness, the human element and the romantic relationships are never ignored, providing plenty of heart in an action adventure set in a finely imagined world.

Generally suitable for older readers in Year 9 and upwards.