“Picky Eaters” by S.J. Higbee

Hey!! I read a story by someone I follow on here! 😊 I follow Sarah’s blog, Brainfluff. Back in the summer, she posted Amazon links to her short story, “Picky Eaters,” intending to lighten up the many worries we were (and are) dealing with in 2020. I read the story in August and really liked it.

Genre

Fantasy

Series

Picky Eaters, part 1

Pubbed

2020

Goodreads summary

Castellan the Black, now better known as Casta the Grey, has led an eventful life, but these days he’s content to live alone in his mountaintop lair, fending off occasional attacks from the food and waiting to die. At least, that’s what he tells himself.

Babysitting his young grandchildren is definitely not on his to do list. Sammy Jo doesn’t care that the world used to cower before Casta’s wrath. She doesn’t want barbecued knight in armour – it’s tinned food – and that’s that. Sadly, her little brother Billy Bob is more inclined to follow her lead than his grandfather’s, and what’s a grumpy old dragon to do with two such intransigent youngsters?

Things go from bad to worse when he wakes up from a nap to find they’ve been hunting for more appealing treats. Organic, free-range lunch was exactly what they needed, according to a very proud Sammy Jo. He’s never seen the food so upset, and now it’s coming up the hill, armed with spears and bows, hell bent on revenge.

Things go from bad to worse when he has to move in with the rest of the family. Whoever said family life was boring hasn’t lived alongside these two pesky lizards. Keeping his grandkids out of trouble might be more of a challenge than this over the mountain warrior can handle. (Goodreads)

My thoughts

Picky Eaters is about a great, old dragon called Castellan who’s babysitting his grandkids. Castellan fell asleep while doing this leaving his grandkids to get in trouble by chasing and eating some food that “live near boxes” thereby angering the people who live in the local village. Castellan takes his grandchildren home and decides to stay there awhile until the hubbub cools down at his place. But an accident causes him to reveal his secret ability to one of his grandkids and to realize that his grandchild may have inherited it too.

Picky Eaters was a fun read and exactly what I needed when I read it. 2020 is a rough year and I’ve been worried about a lot of things since corona started and upended much of what I initially took for granted. Picky Eaters was a wonderful distraction from all this. It was funny and even relatable, although it’s about dragons and is told from an elderly male dragon perspective. But the family life was relatable. I could just imagine how worn out the parent dragons and Castellan are from having to keep up with the dragonets, and Castellan’s regard for his daughter’s husband was also funny too and relatable. The very first scene where Castellan “tip-taloned” across the cavern to peek in on what his grandkids are up to made me chuckle because of how he spooked Billy Bob.

I had a good time with this one and am glad I read it.

Overall: ★★★☆☆

A feel-good story with a touch of humor about an old dragon babysitting his grandkids. It was just what I needed at the time I read it: something short and light.

Buy | Borrow | Bypass

All proceeds are donated to mental health charities.

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