Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Dragon and Thief
	Author:	Zahn, Timothy
	Date Published:	2003
	Genre:	Sci-Fi
	Grade Level:	6 - 8
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
"Rise and shine, Jack," Uncle Virge said. "Go outside. There's something out there--" It was only 4:57 A.M., but Uncle Virge insisted, so Jack reluctantly got up, popped the hatch and walked out of the ship, down the ramp and looked towards the eastern horizon as Uncle Virge instructed him. He lifted his 'nocs and saw flickers of light. A space battle. Great! Here they'd thought they were well away from where they might be spotted in the outback of the Orion Arm, and now there was a space battle raging in the little out of the way planet! Then, one of the ships dropped out of orbit, obviously out of commission and heading for a crash landing. Salvage! If the attacking ships stayed with the other freighters and didn't follow the one entering the atmosphere. When Jack arrived at the crash site, he found everyone in the ship dead...except for something about the size of a tiger that looked like a small dragon. Suddenly, it leaped at him. He jumped backwards throwing an arm in front of his eyes. Then, it was gone, vanished. But, there was no place it could go to. His skin, though, felt odd. Almost as if there was a thin coating of paint or something on his chest and back. He unsealed the front of his shirt and pulled it open. There was a wide golden band angling across his chest and stomach, wrapped around his rib cage and disappearing around his back. It looked like it held a golden fish-scale pattern with texturing. He tore his shirt off and looked at his right shoulder. To find himself gazing directly into the dragon's face. He yelped and jumped to his left. The dragon stayed with him. Then, the face rose out of his skin, the jaw opened slightly..."Don't be afraid," a soft snakelike voice said.