Book excerpt: For ages 9-12. Ten-year-old Elizabeth is spending the summer at her Great-Aunt Germaine's, in rural Caradoc County. Her adventure begins when she finds a perfectly egg-shaped stone in the local graveyard. When, incredibly, the egg hatches, Elizabeth's imagination guides her in a fantastical search for the runaway hatchling. Her investigations, abetted by her great-aunt, lead her to believe that the hatchling is a dragon and none other than the legendary Caradoc Swamp Monster. What hatches is a zany adventure involving quick mud, skunk cabbage, swamp monsters, dragon dives, bonfires, fiery words and broiling tempers. It's a summer of dragons.