David and the Drainosaurs by Janyce Brawn is a MG/YA Bookish Event pick #mglit #fantasy #giveaway
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    • Sep 18, 2023
    • 5 min read

David and the Drainosaurs by Janyce Brawn is a MG/YA Bookish Event pick #mglit #fantasy #giveaway



Title: David and the Drainosaurs


Author: Janyce Brawn


Genre: Middle grade fantasy adventure


Book Blurb:


During and argument with his younger brother, twelve-year-old David Gonzales accidentally drops his mother’s diamond ring down the kitchen sink drain. As he reaches for the ring, he sees a tiny dinosaur who calls herself Princess Doris Drainosaurus and claims the ring is her kingdom’s missing crown. In his tussle with her over the ring, David is pulled into the magical kingdom of Drainovia. There he must find the missing Drainovian crown to exchange for his mother’s ring. David has just three days to do this or be stuck forever in a land where Drainosaurs rule, doors fly, hats teleport, and treachery abounds.


Excerpt:


Mama didn’t realize babysitting Luis was the worst job in the world. There he was, holding Abuela’s ring that she had given to Mama. I knew how much Mama treasured it, and I wished Luis understood. I ground my teeth together. If he loses it while I’m watching him, I’ll be in trouble. He blames me for everything. First the broken garage window when we were playing baseball, and he threw the ball at it, and now this.


I sneaked up behind Luis. “Put. That. Back,” I whispered.


Luis jumped. “David, I’m not hurting it.” He put Mama’s ring on a little red and orange sombrero-shaped ring dish on the corner of the sink. The ring’s yellow diamonds winked in the sunlight. “There.”


“Scram!” I grabbed a placemat decorated with red chili peppers off the kitchen table and tossed it at him. I missed.


Luis picked it off the floor and threw it back like a discus.


I ducked and the placemat landed on the little dish. I yanked it off and gasped as Mama’s ring tumbled into the sink.


“No!” I tried to catch the ring, but it disappeared.


“Ooh, you’re in trouble now,” said Luis.


“You started it. I hate babysitting you! I wish I was out with my friends.” I clenched and unclenched my fists.


“I’m going to tell,” Luis chanted. “I’m going to tell.”


“Don’t even try.” I reached for him as he ran out the backdoor, but all I caught was air. “Better keep quiet!”


Luis laughed as the door slammed.


My stomach did somersaults, and my mouth tasted bitter. I had to get Mama’s ring. I just had to!


After I turned twelve, Mama decided that I was old enough to babysit when she and Papa weren’t home.


“Just think of how much Luis looks up to you, David,” Mama had said the other day. “Play with him. If your roles were reversed, you’d want him to play with you.”


I knew what she meant, but she doesn’t know how bratty Luis was. I wished I could do what I wanted instead of being stuck with him.


Turning back to the sink, I noticed the air shimmering with tiny swirling dots. Curious, I tiptoed and peered into the drain. Mama’s ring hadn’t fallen through the metal crosspiece at the bottom. It sat on top of a piece of carrot. We didn’t have a garbage disposal so sometimes pieces of food stuck there.


Jabbing a couple of fingers down to get it, I poked something warm and squishy climbing up through the drain.


“Watch it,” a high-pitched voice commanded.


I squeaked yanking back my hand. Shocked, I stared at a green finger-length glob with thin arms and a small reptile head on a long, thick neck. Beady black eyes glared. Tiny ears wiggled. Three claw-like fingers, wearing gold rings, balled into a fist and shook at me. Its fat, orange dress-covered belly jiggled. It looked like a weird dinosaur in clothing.


“How rude,” it said in a huff. “Don’t you know not to poke at strangers?”


The air sparkled.


I blinked, but the strange creature still stared at me. My hand shook as I pointed in the drain. “I d-d-dropped Mama’s ring down there. I have to get it back.”


“Well, I haven’t seen it, I’m sure.” The miniature dinosaur straddled the holes in the drain, hands planted on the sides of her big belly.


“Unreal,” I muttered, “I’m talking to a dinosaur in the drain.”


“Drainosaur.”


“What?”


“We’re called Drainosaurs.” She shrugged. “We live in the kingdom of Drainovia. I’m Princess Doris Drainosaurus. Now, hurry up and describe this ring you’re talking about so you can leave me alone.”


“It’s a gold ring with three diamonds. It was right there a minute ago, on a piece of carrot.”


Princess Doris Drainosaurus swiveled her head around, looking down. “It’s not here, so I guess you’re mistaken. Well, goodbye.” She reached behind to pick up the round chunk of carrot and placed it on her head like a hat. The ring was wedged on top of it.


“Hey. There’s the ring.” I reached for it.


“No.” Princess Doris’s fingers clamped onto the carrot and ring. “It’s the missing crown of Drainovia. We’ve been looking for it since the end of the Plumberian War. Now that I’ve found it, I’ve got to give it to the king.” She moved to the other side of the drain making the air shimmer.


“Wait.” I shoved in two fingers, hooked the ring and tugged. The next thing I knew, I began to shrink. I grabbed for the faucet with my other hand, but it hit the handle and water started to drip down on me.


“Aiii,” I screamed.


Fear knotted in my stomach. I became smaller and smaller until the sink surrounded me. The faucet towered over me with water dribbling out. My breath caught in my throat as the water splashed over me.


I lost my balance and toppled through the drain. My feet pushed the squishy drainosaur as we slid out of control. “Help!” I tried to grab the wall of the pipe. All I could feel was cold gooey slime ooze between my fingers. I kicked at the sides, but my feet flew up. I slid down on my back like I was riding on a wild dark, water slide. I felt like throwing up.


The walls slapped us with slithery tendrils of gunk. With a whoosh we tumbled and slid past the trap and slid into a horizontal pipe. A light flashed, blinding me for a moment.


The drainosaur squashed me against the side. Struggling to breathe, I gulped a lungful of air that smelled like rotten eggs and onions.


Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):







What makes your featured book a must-read?


In the world of today, children need their imaginations stimulated and this book does that. The story shows a youngster’s struggle to learn to put another person’s or creature’s needs before his own. The main character is on a quest to find a missing crown but ends up in many adventures as he helps others. This models cooperation and kindness in an imaginative way that young readers will enjoy.


Giveaway –


Enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card:



Open Internationally.


Runs September 12 – September 19, 2023.


Winner will be drawn on September 20, 2023.



Author Biography:


Janyce Brawn is a retired Spanish and K-12 English as a Second Language teacher with an art degree. She uses her art training to illustrate for magazines and books. With a vivid imagination, Janyce has been writing and drawing since she was a little girl, when she worked on handwritten stories and crayoned pictures for books with her twin sister. As an adult, she continues writing and illustrating most recently with her middle grade series: Tales of the Teleporting Topsider. When Janyce isn’t working on her latest projects, she enjoys reading, boating and visiting with friends and family.


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