32. Talking to Dragons by Patricia Wrede

This book is the fourth and last book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (although there is a volume of short stories that takes place in the Enchanted Forest). This is probably the silliest and wackiest of the four. That is probably why my little girls like it so much. This time the story is told from the viewpoint of Daystar, the 16 year old son of Mendenbar and Cimorene. The story takes place about 17 years after the last one in order for Daystar to grow up. Daystar goes on an adventure in the Enchanted Forest not really knowing who he is. He doesn't know that Mendenbar is his father, or even that Mendenbar is king of the Enchanted Forest. He has the sword, but he doesn't know what it is really. Along the way he meets a fire witch, a talking lizard, wizards galore, a teenage dragon, and lots of old characters from the other books. His mission is to find out why he is on the adventure and what he is supposed to do. Like the ones before, it is funny and pretty fast paced. It plays on lots of fairy tale stereotypes and is pretty clever. Kate used to say that it was the best story she had ever heard so I would highly recommend it.