Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	The Dragon’s Son
	Author:	Thomson, Sarah L.
	Date Published:	2001
	Genre:	Fantasy
	Grade Level:	6 - 12
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Notes:
Short Stories

Booktalk:
My father was a ferryman, so I grew up by the river. For sixteen springs I’d watched the river and learned its moods and whims and songs. Then the bard Myrddin came into our lives. He was just passing through, but my father persuaded him to stay the night to honor our house with his songs. Then, the raft needed patching, and Myrddin agreed to help with that task. Then, he needed a new staff. Before we knew it, the night had stretched into days, then weeks. Eventually he asked me to marry him, and I accepted. Lacking a priest, we were married in the old way and the village celebrated with a feast. The next morning, my father ferried us across the river. My new husband and I set out on the road on foot. Our destination became Caerleon where the great leader of the region, the “king” called Uther held court. Myrddin was quickly accepted into the Kings court, as was I, being his wife. Uther soon discovered my husband’s other talents as a counselor with a mind of history and politics, loyalty without bound, and an uncanny knowledge of things to come. Myrddin was convinced that Uther was the great leader he had foreseen. Until the Lady Igrayne and her lord Cawdor came to court seeking an alliance with Uther. When Uther decided that he wanted Igrayne more than the alliance, she and her husband fled, Uther set out after them in a rage. He killed her lord and returned with a defeated Igrayne to be his queen. Igrayne and I had our sons were born but days apart. They soon came to resemble each other. Then Myrddin finally realized that it was not Uther who would be the great leader he had foreseen, the son if the king. To protect the son, from Uther, Myrrdin was convinced that we must spirit him away to safety until he was old enough to ascend the throne in his father’s place. He convinced me that we must switch the babies and pretend that we were taking our own son to see my father. We would find a place for the King’s son, then return to court telling how our son had sickened and died. Then we would take our real son and run. He swore that our son would be safe. That Uther wouldn’t act at once. That we had time. He swore!!! AND I BELIEVED HIM!!