book search

[edenfalling]

I feel like making use of the power of livejournal.

So.

Here are a couple books I read when I was a kid, and which I cannot remember enough about to find effectively via library searches.

1. The first book is a story about dragons who lived in a valley. One young dragon, named Arthur, found a human baby, brought him home for a few days, and this complicated both their lives later on. Arthur had a friend named Mordecai, who was a bat. There was a sort of stone arch somewhere nearby that had a veil through which one could speak to the dead... sometimes.

The dragons were at war with the moon. Once upon a time, dragons had (I think) lived on the sun and the moon, but for whatever reason, the sun dragons had come to earth and turned green. There were some white moon dragons living on earth, but the dragons who remained on the moon lived on its dark side and were black and evil. There was a war near the end of the book.

Also, there was at one point a flying contest in which Arthur twisted the rules by flying a mile straight up and then falling down instead of flying a mile to the side, which saved time. And I think he married a white dragon near the end. And there was a hard winter at one point, in which the dragons helped rescue some lost humans (with the help of Arthur's human friend).

Do you know the name of this book?

2. This one I remember even less about. It was based on Russian legends -- specifically, Vassalissa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga. There were a boy and a girl who lived in a village, and were friends. The girl had a doll that was very special to her. They encountered Baba Yaga.

It was later revealed that the girl's mother was Vassalissa the Beautiful. Also, the people of the village had to flee some evil (I think they fled on a train?) and Baba Yaga was persuaded to help them.

Comments

[askerian]

oh hey, the first one sounds neat. o_o I'll ask my bookworm friends if they have any idea what these are.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

ack. Itried to google them but I'd never be sure if they where what yo usaught. blah. melanie rawn perhaps? or a dragonlance book?
The baba yaga one is even worse .good luck .and let me know when you find them. they sound interesting.

[acechan.livejournal.com]

Damn. I'm afraid I don't know those, but they do sound pretty awesome. ...Of course, I'm a folktale nut who thinks anything featuring Baba Yaga sounds pretty damn awesome.

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

I've read Russian folktalkes about No. 2, but never a whole book.

[edenfalling]

Definitely not Melanie Rawn or Dragonlance! Definitely, definitely, definitely not. But thanks for trying!

[edenfalling]

Baba Yaga is cool, yes. :-)

[edenfalling]

I read this book when I was, perhaps, 8 years old. I remember liking it a lot, but all the details are so faded. I tried to find it by shelf position a few times in my teens, but never succeeded. *sigh*

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

it soudnsl iek yo uahte those two? now i fel like arandom advisoraskign queen mary to marry john KNox. (sorry. ive jstu come otu of an alizabeth byrd book.)

[edenfalling]

I've never read anything by Melanie Rawn, and she doesn't write children's books in any case. Also, Dragonlance series is explicitly set in a world that is not earth, and which has THREE moons instead of one. So neither of your suggestions was possible.

That's all I meant; sorry it came across badly.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

aha. i see it now .well I awas only confused.when yo ufidn the titles you'll haveto share them though. I'm curious now.
adn iforgot if i congratulated you onthe niffle or not.