Find out what Mumsnetters thought of children's book The Painted Dragon by Katherine Woodfine

[SorchaMumsnet]

Introducing The Painted Dragon - a fast-paced historical adventure for readers aged 9+.

When a priceless painting is stolen, dauntless young detectives Sophie and Lil find themselves faced with forgery, trickery and deceit on all sides.

Be amazed as the brave duo pit their wits against this perilous puzzle and marvel at their cunning plan to unmask the villain. It's their most perilous adventure yet!

The Painted Dragon is the third installment in The Sinclair's Mysteries quartet. The other two books are the bestselling The Clockwork Sparrow, and The Jewelled Moth. The final book will be published this autumn.

We ask all winners to share their child's thoughts about the book on this discussion thread. However, you don't have to win a free book to take part in the discussion - you're welcome to grab a copy of The Painted Dragon and answer the questions below.

We've added some questions about the book to lead the discussion. You can, of course, add any other thoughts on the book.

Everyone who gives detailed feedback on the book by end of day, Monday 27 March will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 Love2shop voucher:

-What did your child think of the characters?
-What did your child think of the historical setting?
-Would your child read other books by this author - e.g. the rest of The Sinclair's Mysteries?

This giveaway is sponsored by Egmont

Book giveaways T&Cs apply

they liked the characters, but dont like historical settings, as feel they cant relate to them at all, which they could if it was set in the present day. They dont want to try others in the series

My son enjoyed this a lot and found the setting amazing.

my son loved this book, he said it was like an adventure! I think its great as well i love the historical aspect of the book! x

This is a great read couldn't put it down.

Fab book. Really enjoyed it.

books with a historical setting are a firm favourite here and I enjoyed it as much as them!

Both my children seemed to enjoy the characters and history this book. Will pass on to their friends.

I liked this, particularly that the female characters were strong and independent. Sadly. he didn't. He struggled to get into it and not sure he'd try another. :(

Although my daughter is below 5, I did read this to her to start with but finished the book myself without her!!! Definitely ideal for older children, probably aged around 10 and up. Perfectly entertaining for adults who enjoy cozy historical mysteries. I loved it!

As a giveaway winner I received my copy today review to follow

I love history, and the Edwardian setting (London, 1909) of this book. was really well depicted, and touching of the suffragette movement was a good plot enhancer. the two characters in the book sophie and Lil, are are trying to solve a crime (a theft of the painting called the green dragon). The characters show good detective problem solving skills, which left my trying to guess who was the culprit. I can recommend this book, and will be looking for more from this author which I believe is called the mystery peacock.

Having a read before I pass it on.....my friends daughter has already called dibs

Thanks so much for our copy of The Painted Dragon! My nine-year-old daugher has already got stuck in to reading it. Will let you know how she finds it when she finishes.

Thanks for the book. My son, 9, loved it. He mainly reads adventure books. This is his first proper mystery book and he is hooked. He loved the intriguing atmosphere and the description of the historical era. I have a read through, and although mystery is not my thing, I thought it was very well written.

Thanks very much for the book.
My son has just whizzed through it and told me he really enjoyed it. He wants the prequels to it now, so I'll be getting them for him soon.

It seems to be in the ilk of Robin Steven's 'Murder Most Unladylike' series and he loved these.

In school, my son has been learning about the suffragette movement so the historical aspects to this book - it's set in 1909 -are a perfect compliment. He also said that the baddie - I forgot his name - is fantastic.

My son has been keen to get to bed to read this book, which is a clear sign that he loves it. Thank you for letting us review this book.

This book has been passed on again, this time to my sons friend! It's definitely a book that's been enjoyed by all of its readers, whether male or female. Good job you don't want your copy back, as it is certainly not going to be in a state to return it! 😂

My 11 year old daughter loved this book, the characters and felt she learned a lot about the Edwardian era. So much so she has ordered the rest in our local library for her to read!

Thank you for this book.

So far we are enjoying it, we are only part way through as we already had another book on the go. I have been impressed by the richness of the language, and the historical details interspersed in the story, DD enjoys the details and the story.

This is brilliant and the kids loved it so much

We all enjoyed this book which we read aloud together (dd11, ds6). Dd in particular would love to read other books by the author herself in the future. Dd enjoyed relating to the characters & we would definitely recommend!

My 11 year old daughter has just finished this book. She was excited to receive it as she had previously read, and enjoyed, The Clockwork Sparrow (book 1 in the series). She hasn't read book 2. She said that at times that slightly spoilt this book for her as there were references to some of the Baron's previous activities. However, this is only a minor problem as overall she thoroughly enjoyed the book and when she started it she did not put it down.

She said that at times she found the book quite scary so when she was reading it in bed she didn't want to turn off the light as she was a bit scared! She says that she thinks the author is very good. It is clever how she created the atmosphere in the book. She would like her to write some more detective stories aimed at 12-14 year olds. She thinks the author has a real talent for writing and knows how to grab your attention.

She says most of the strong characters are female but that the book is aimed equally at boys and girls. She thinks the book is good for 9 to 11-year-olds.

My son is 7 and though this is aimed for slightly older readers, he enjoyed the book. He thought Sophie and Lil were clever at solving clues. The historical setting in The Edwardian era provoked him into enquiring about what life was like then and he was really interested to find out more. As this is the third book in the series, he would like to read the earlier stories as he is familiar with the characters.

My daughter enjoyed and felt she could relate to the characters. The era was new to her so lots of questions asked but she enjoyed learning about it. She has listed it as one of her fav so definitely will be looking out for more books

I was looking after my friends daughter and she saw this book and wanted to read, she's only 7 so I was surprised how easy she found it! She absolutely loved the characters and after reading we dressed up as detectives and went to search for clues! She enjoyed the historical setting, and could recreate it in roleplay (with a few prompts.) She took the book home with her and she hasn't put it down! Going to take her on a detective trip to the library next week!

My daughter loved the cover and the illustrations! She loved all the historical details, and the strong female characters. She's let her friend borrow the book now, because she couldn't stop talking about it!