Green Smoke by Rosemary Manning

[gigaball]

Has anyone else read this very quaint gem from the seventies? I fell in love with it as a child and eagerly bought a copy when I saw it back in print in Waterstones.

 

It's a very simple story (or maybe series of stories) about a girl called Susan, who meets a dragon when she's on holiday in Cornwall. Her parents give her free reign of the beaches and caves (a different era!) so she visits him most days, usually bringing biscuits or a bun. He either takes her for a ride to see something (like Tintagel Castle or a mermaid) or else tells her a tall tale, and at the risk of underselling it, that's pretty much all that happens!

 

There isn't much in the way of action or adventure here, but the charm of the book lies in the dialogue between the heroine, Susan, and her unusual new friend. It's worth explaining that the dragon is a charming, very cultured, sometimes laugh-out-loud ludicrous dragon who learned his manners at the court of King Arthur. He occasionally talks with regret about the maidens he devoured before he was taught to behave by a Cornish saint.

 

Re-reading it as an adult, there's definitely a lot less actually plot than I remembered, but every page managed to raise a smile, and it was a joy to revisit this old favourite. They certainly don't make 'em like they used to (not that modern children's books aren't good - they're excellent - but I can't see something like this getting published nowadays).

 

Did anyone else read this back in the day or am I the only one?