This trilogy just got worse as time went on. The first one was Amazing, and recommend it to everyone. The second was ok, and recommend it to the people who read the first one. But this one, well, i recommend this one going straight into the trash bin. Nobody should torture themselves by reading the dribble that is written in those pages. It has nohting to do with the first one. I think it is about time that Jane Yolen seriously considers a major career change.

I love this trilogy! I highly recommend A Sending of Dragons #3, Dragon's Blood #1, and Heart's Blood #2. This one, #3, is about Jakkin's and Akki's adventures in the wild of their dragon-inhibited world. After spending the Dark-After in Heart's Blood, Jakkin's dead dragon who was killed protecting Jakkin and Akki, Jakkin and Akki can see with the eyes of dragons and spend the Dark-After outside without freezing. But when they run underground hiding from patrol men, Jakkin and Akki find that some ancient stone-age people know the same secret -- and these barbaric people kill female dragons on purpose for just this reason. Then they let their children sleep in the dragons womb with her eggs. Jakkin and Akki don't know what to do. Heart's Bloods young dragons are trying to help Jakkin and Akki, but they must stay outside the caves or they could be slaughtered, too. And now, Jakkin has found a beautiful red dragon who could be Heart's Blood sisters, her mind patterns and looks are the same. What can Jakkin and Akki do to help the endangered dragons -- and save themselves from becoming like these emotionless people?

This is probably the most disappointing of the Commander Toad books, which my sons, ages 4 and 8, truly ENJOY and even beg for! It is a fun read, but not as outstanding as the other books in this series.

The crew receives a message from a planet inhabited only by doves. It turns out that their beans have swollen and clogged the storm sewer drains, causing the entire planet to flood. Very far-fetched, indeed.

The birds sent an SOS to Star Fleet when their wings grew tired from having no place to land. Mistaking their bird language, Commander Toad's crew brings a shipload of beans, which the birds don't really want. They just need dry ground on which to rest.

In the end, Commander Toad saves the day by swimming underwater to pierce the swollen beans with his official Star Fleet gadget. Then he must hold on to a statue of the Mayor while everything unattached goes down the drain! Swallow your disbelief!

The reason this book is not as good as the remainder of the series is because, in a few cases, the pictures don't mesh with the story. I.e. the text says Doc Peeper goes to the planet's surface, but the image doesn't show him in the sky skimmer. Also, the plot is even more oddball than usual.

Incredibly fun series of books. Try _Commander Toad and the Space Pirates_ or _Commander Toad and the Intergalactic Spy_.

I thought this book was beautiful, both in the dreamlike quality of the writing and rich pictures that vividly depicts the scene captured in snapshots frame don eery other page. However, granting this boy a vision and warning dream seems like stretching the alternative view that doens't glorify Chirstopher Columbus and instead focuses on how his arrival killed off the people with diseases andenslaved them. Perhaps I have been too saturated with this type of view so that the alternatives are just as annoying as the tradition "Columbus was wonderful" stories. Perhaps just telling a more middle line truth would be more helpful. Otherwise, the book is blessed with Yolen's storytelling talent, a touching story, and beautiful illustrations.

A highly eduactional read I enjoyed it simply because it gave me load of info on how to improve my writing

This story is about a young orphan who becomes a apprentice to a apothecary/alchemist. The story is heart warming as both the old man and the boy grow from knowing each other. The story is believable and magical. The author has a good feel about human nature. I do wish there was more magic in it. Overall I think it was a good read.

Owning wonderful "Alphabeastiary" and "Owl Moon" by Yolen mistakenly led us to this book. Text is barely verbal and vacant, certainly not any great addition to our science collection, as Booklist review tends to indicate. Splitting a sentence between four pages is not our idea of reading. Any parents who are reading for literary enhancement should find something else. The star we give is for illustrations, nothing more. The illustrator should have put as much effort into the interior as she did the cover. Too bad, overall disappointment.

A very quick read, granted, but the illustrations are beautiful. This is the kind of book youngsters will want to look at again and again. I haven't compared it to Yolen's other books, so maybe I would give it less, but for now it deserves a 4.