The Dragon Slayers' Academy is back-and it's bigger and better than ever! The books have new covers and are now 112 pages long. Expanded from the old 96-page format, they now feature a fun Dragon Slayers' Academy Yearbook at the end of each story, with funny profiles of the faculty, the staff, and, especially, the students of D.S.A. All the things kids want to know about their favorite characters are revealed: their silly nicknames, inner secrets, wildest dreams, and lofty plans for the future! When a traveling minstrel foretells that he is to become a hero, Wiglaf sets out to fulfill his destiny: he signs up at the Dragon Slayers' Academy. But how can he ever hope to be a dragon slayer when he can't even stand the sight of blood? Illustrated by Bill Basso.Reader's age: 7-10

Kate McMullan is the author of many books for young readers, including I Stink!, winner of a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor; I'm Mighty; and Meg's Prairie Diary, a historical fiction trilogy set in St. Louis and Kansas in 1856. She has been fascinated by the Lewis and Clark Expedition since the age of ten, when an uncle told her about an ancestor who had gone on the expedition. That ancestor was sixteen-year-old George Shannon. Ms. McMullan lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York, with her husband and collaborator, noted illustrator Jim McMullan, their daughter, two cats, and a dog.