The Dragon of Highgate Street

What do we remember of childhood? The dreams we used to dream once upon a time?The way time seemed to last forever, the way something always broke the dream, the way we had to return to earth?Maybe that's what this book's about. Maybe it's about Orlog the Dragon. Or Shadowbounder. Or Thomas McGuire. Or Margaret.Maybe it's about Kurt Hennish and his mother Eloise.Maybe it's about the Kingsley family.Maybe it's about a little girl named Rita and her teddy bear Herbert.Maybe it's about Highgate Street and the last summer before 4th grade.***Kurt has always hated the basement. But on a hot summer day in 1979, a boy's games of secret armories and enemy fortresses lead him somewhere far worse: a drainpipe by the river, a glimpse of something that should never have been there, and a man in a black top hat watching from the bridge.Rescued from drowning by the talkative and eccentric Thomas McGuire, Kurt is swept into the Howlgrave Museum of Fabulous History, a house full of dust, mirrors, and dangerous books. There he learns that the legends of dragons were never only legends, and that someone - or something - very old has been looking for a Way Out.Then the ground shakes. A chasm opens beneath Highgate Street's vacant lot, and a small girl named Rita and her teddy bear Herbert vanish into the dark. Fires break out across Highgate Street. A neighborhood that never believed in magic must face a dragon named Orlog, furious over his defeat at the hands of Margaret and Thomas.A band of unlikely raiders, comprised of the dreamer Kurt, the proud Anthony, and his clever sister Rebecca, led by the museum keeper Thomas, must descend into the Underglobe, where each will meet their private nightmare.Part ghost story, part old-fashioned quest, and part love letter to the neighborhoods where childhood happens, The Dragon of Highgate Street is a story of courage, grief, and the stories families pass down. Along the way, it asks about the people who came before us, our debt to history, and what it costs to go back for someone you love.Perfect for readers who love Narnia-style portals, Lloyd Alexander and Susan Cooper-style quests, and the spooky, sprawling adventures of Coraline and Neverwhere.