Dragons of Ordinary Farm

By Tad Williams, Greg Swearingen and Deborah Beale

Tyler and Lucinda have to spend summer vacation with their ancient uncle Gideon, a farmer. They think they're in for six weeks of cows, sheep, horses, and pigs. But when they arrive in deserted Standard Valley, California, they discover that Ordinary Farm is, well, no ordinary farm.

The bellowing in the barn comes not from a cow but from a dragon. The thundering herd in the valley? Unicorns. Uncle Gideon's sprawling farmhouse never looks the same twice. Plus, there's a flying monkey, a demon squirrel, and a barnload of unlikely farmhands with strange accents and even stranger powers.

At first, the whole place seems like a crazy adventure. But when darker secrets begin to surface and Uncle Gideon and his fabulous creatures are threatened, Lucinda and Tyler have to pull together to take action. Will two ordinary kids be able to save the dragons, the farm—and themselves?

Expert storytellers Tad Williams and Deborah Beale take readers on an extraordinary adventure in their first book about Ordinary Farm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061912306

Tad Williams

Tad Williams is a New York Times and London Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction, with novels translated into more than twenty languages and a global readership. He hosted a syndicated radio show for over a decade, co-created the first completely interactive television program, and is currently involved in film, television, comic books, computer games and other multimedia projects. He and his family live in California.

Reviews for Dragons of Ordinary Farm

[Catherine Garcia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very fun book. I want more about The Ordinary Farm.

[randalrh · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

From my review of Shadowmarch:"The thing about Tad Williams is, he just keeps writing. The thing about me is, I'll just keep reading. When Williams is in his element, i.e. has an entire universe and centuries to work with, he can go pretty much anywhere and I'll follow."The problem here is that Williams and Beale are constrained (largely) to one farm and one summer. The book is 75% set up and not much payoff. There may be other books in the series coming, but at the rate that Williams writes, your adolescent who loved this will have moved out. Maybe Deborah Beale is faster.

[gimble_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lucinda and Tyler two kids from a broken home find themselfs going to visit a distant relative. The holliday is anything but normal. Ordinary Farm is a very good tale and a fine example of what kind of mischouf two kids can get into in a few short months.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: When I heard Tad Williams had a book out for juveniles, I was so going to be reading it. Comments: Tyler and Lucinda are sent to spend the summer with their incredibly old great uncle (whom they've never met) while their mother goes on a singles retreat. Not looking forward at all to farm life: where will she go shopping? will there be electricity to recharge his hand-held gamer? they are reluctant guests. Upon arrival they quickly see that this is no ordinary farm, all the farm hands and kitchen staff talk with strange accents and seem as though they come from various far away countries. Then on their first day they are shown around the farm and meet the inhabitants: unicorns, basilisks, a flying monkey, cockatrices, baby griffins, a couple of dragons and many more fantastic creatures. Tyler and Lucinda are sworn to secrecy but are only given small pieces of information at a time leaving them full of questions with no answers. So they take to exploring on their own at night and find some incredible answers and mysterious clues to a secret from the past as they also learn that the farm itself and the dragons are in danger. Well, I just loved this book. A setting filled with fantastic creatures is a sure bet I'm going to have some fun. Lucinda and Tyler both started off as rather annoying kids as they were portrayed as a typical brother and sister who spend most of their time together annoying each other and being sarcastic. As they are brought together at the farm for the first time where they have to live together, work together and count on each other their relationship (and attitudes) grow and develop. The eccentric cast of supporting characters is a riot from Great Uncle Gideon who always wears his pajamas and house coat to Mrs. Needle, Gideon's assistant with strange powers who cannot be completely trusted to Ragnar, a powerhouse of a Scandinavian. The plot is not exactly fast-paced. The first half of the book spends a lot of time in the kids enjoying their new exciting surroundings, getting to know the fascinating people and slowly unraveling the mysteries. The troubles slowly mount until a pivotal point where the action picks up and the second half of the book has a plot full of action as events unfold at a faster-pace and reveals follow one another. I had a great time reading this. I loved the motley crew of characters. The plot is a lot of fun and the dragon side story is unique and well, who doesn't love a good dragon story? The story is nicely wrapped up yet there is a bigger plot running along which will continue through the series and the book leaves us with a satisfying ending but also knowing the children will be returning to Ordinary Farm again. Get in at the start with this series folks, it's quite likely, imho, that this is going to become a popular one. I'm really looking forward to book two.

[seitherin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A joy to read. It was a lovely way to cleanse the palate after reading all that heavy, dreary adult stuff. Everyone needs a happy ending every once in a while and the resolution to the dragon problem made this old dragon dreamer very happy.