In honour of World Book Day 2023 and publication day for the wonderful Dragonracers, I’m thrilled to welcome author Peter Bunzl to my blog with a special guest post!
I’ve always wanted to write about dragons. A few years ago, I had an idea about a lighthouse keeper’s daughter who discovers a dragon. That story became Featherlight my first book with Barrington Stoke. But if you read it, you’ll see that she discovers a different mythical creature instead. (You can probably guess what!)
At that time, I was reading about the Women’s Air Derby of 1929, which took place in the USA. A race dubbed ‘The Powder Puff Derby’ by the press. Twenty women aeronauts, racing across America in planes they’d customized themselves.
In those days, there was no radar, so they had to navigate by following roads, railways and landmarks on maps. Learning that crazy fact, I knew I wanted to write about a girl pilot in an air race. But I wanted my air race to be in Britain.
Then I discovered the London to Manchester Air Race of 1910. It was the first air race in the UK, and it took place barely seven years after the Wright brothers made the first engine powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The two pilots who took part were Claude Grahame‐White and Louis Paulhan. They flew Farman biplanes, one of the earliest manufactured airplanes.
Paulhan took off from Hendon Airfield, which is now the site of the Royal Airforce Museum. If you visit the museum, which is well worth doing because there’s loads of amazing airplanes there, you will find a section dedicated to the air race, plus various biplanes from that time.
Learning about the race, I had a lightbulb moment: what if there was another racer that day, and they were flying on a Dragon?
It was a crazy story idea, but why not? The beginnings of flight were a dream-like time for humanity. A dragon would fit right in with that mythical moment. Plus, it would be fun to race one against airplanes!
That thought was the genesis of Dragonracers. But I had to come up with some children to fly the dragon. I love pun names, so Kitty Hawk is my heroine, named after the Wright brothers’ airplane, and also the location of their first flight. Harris Hawk is Kitty’s brother, named after a bird of prey.
They became the stars of my story. But if you want to find out more about them, and their father, Peregrine, who works at Hendon airfield, and their dragon, Red, that they teach to fly in the air race, you’ll have to read the book!
DRAGONRACERS takes flight into shops on the 2nd of March 2023, which also happens to be World Book Day. I hope you enjoy it!
~ Peter Bunzl
My Review:
Dragonracers by Peter Bunzl is a brilliant blend of fantasy and history, all wrapped up in the story of the first London to Manchester Air Race in 1910!
Ten-year-old Kitty and Harris Hawk are twins who have grown up around the first planes in Britain. Their father is chief aircraft engineer to Britain’s most famous “Bird man”, Claude Grahame-White. Kitty loves everything to do with airplanes and wants nothing more than to be a pilot herself. Harris is much more interested in magic and dragons.
The pair find a strange, white, marbled egg. It hatches and they are shocked to discover it contains a baby dragon! They have to keep it a secret but that’s much easier said than done. Their dragon grows incredibly quickly and eats everything in sight. When the London to Manchester Air Race is announced with the famous French pilot Louis Paulhan set to defeat Claude Grahame-White, Kitty & Harris are determined to be involved. Maybe their dragon is just what they need!
Dragonracers is a wonderfully empowering story that encourages readers to follow their dreams. Kitty is told that a girl can’t be a pilot but she doesn’t let that stop her. Positivity, love and the warmth of sibling companionship radiate off the page. The fast-paced action of the race itself is so engaging, prompting readers to learn more about the actual race that took place in April 1910 and explore the people and places of first flight in Britain.
Thank you to Barrington Stoke for this accessible and incredibly enjoyable book! With dyslexia-friendly font, spacing and page tint as well as careful vocabulary choice, so many children will be able to join Kitty and Harris on their high-flying adventure!
~ Kate Heap
Click on the covers below to find out more or purchase online:
Bookshop.org:
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Books by Kate Heap:
Scope for Imagination 
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