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Flying Dragons by Ken Daniel

One summer, four boys and a coastal Florida town plagued by mosquitoes: the community raises funds to import dragonflies that arrive by train with a mysterious caretaker.

About the book

Flying Dragons is a humorous and vivid yarn about one summer, four boys, and a coastal Florida town plagued by millions of mosquitos. The characters are eccentric, yet believable. As the story blossoms we follow the boys and learn the town's clever plan to rid the community of its blood-sucking pests. The answer: dragonflies. Not just dragonflies but insects that are ordered from a far away country and arrive by train with their mysterious caretaker. The community has to raise the funds to purchase these exotic creatures. The idea hit upon is to place bets on a local mutt who routinely travels Main Street and marks his route with a little squirt first. Hence the plan -- set up a map with a grid and let the townspeople purchase squares. Whoever picks the square where the dog whizzes gets the prize. Of course the best plans don't always work smoothly when played out, and this mutt creates havoc. There is also a parade with a trophy for the group that best represents the idea of the dragonfly. The four boys overcome many obstacles and (as the Flying Dragons) spend hours learning a precision drill that is executed while riding their bicycles. They win the prize, and the dragonflies are released, but there is a touch of tragedy -- one of the four boys becomes ill and dies. The remaining members of the ream rally to deal with their loss in some very imaginative ways that include getting an Indian princess to sneak into the hospital and give the dying boy his last wish -- a tattoo of a porpoise. The end is humorous, but touching.

About the author

Ken Daniel is a resident of Decatur, Georgia, a community just outside Atlanta, where he worked in public television for many years. At various times he has earned a living as an actor, a teacher and a puppeteer. Outside of a two-year stint in the Army overseas and a six month stay in New York City, Mr. Daniel has lived in the South. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and raised on the west coast of Florida where he developed an insatiable appetite for the outdoors. From the age of seven to twelve, he lived in a world quite often free of the scrutiny of adults, filled with camping expeditions deep in the Everglades, fishing trips far out in the Gulf of Mexico and hunting for rumored buried treasures hidden beneath the sands of the beaches of his hometown of Naples, Florida. In addition to producing a weekly television series on the outdoors, he has had several articles published on the topic. Mr. Daniel is the proud father of a a twenty-one year old son who is studying to be an actor.

Archived from the Harris Literary Agency website. The agency's listing is reproduced as published, with contact details removed.

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