Belmont and the dragon by Mike Zarb and Robin Gold

Random House, 2008 ISBN 978 1 74166 320 4
(Ages: 6-9) The orphan Belmont looks longingly through the gates of his orphanage at the lovely Princess Libby as she rides out for her daily ride around the park. But it is not the princess he is really looking at, it is her guard of majestic knights. He longs to be one. Finding that he can escape this place he does so, following the guard into the park, a place of doom and gloom, where he meets the fire breathing but inept dragon, Burnie. Hearing the cries of the princess, the two are glavanised into action, saving her from the clutches of the evil Redwitch and her sometime companions, Zonk, Chester and Bertah. All comes right in the end as Belmont receives the reward he has dreamed of, being an honorary knight of the realm.
A cute easy to read story for early readers, this story will please the most fastidious of children. The drawings by Robin Gold, chart the adventures of Belmont, against the background of the city of Old York. Things are turned upside down, as older readers will recognize features form new York, Magical Square Gardens, Centaur Park, and so on, adding to the humour of the story.
Fran Knight