The Wizard of Owl Cottage: Dragon Time (The Wizard of Owl Cottage Series) - Hardcover

Bennett, Rod (Papa)

Hardcover

ISBN 13: 9798997236045

Publisher: Owl Cottage, 2026

Synopsis

Some minutes must be kept.

The second tale of The Wizard of Owl Cottage — a warm, old-fashioned fairy tale for readers 8–12, written by a grandfather for his grandchildren and told in the unhurried, wry voice of the classic nursery tale.

Last summer, Sophia, Emma, and Harvey crossed an ancient stone wall by accident. This time, they are invited. A silver acorn appears on Emma's pillow, calling the three children back through the circle for tea at Owl Cottage — where the kettles have names, the furniture has opinions, and a dark door beneath the stairs must never, ever be opened.

But the Warden is called away on an errand beyond the wall. The tall clock by the hearth strikes thirteen. And somewhere in the night, Owl Cottage quietly loses an hour.

While Madam Brindlewake — a very old, very proper, tea-loving dragon — keeps the cottage and the door, the children go searching through a landscape made of time itself for the three true times: First Light, Middle Chime, and Last Ember. Their errand leads them through a dew orchard where mornings are grown, down to a drowned bell that remembers too much, and into the hall between the ticks of a clock, where every door opens onto a different sky.

Because far below the cottage, the prisoner has stolen one small minute. It is only a minute, he whispers. Only a look. Only one little mercy. That, as the children discover, is exactly the trouble.

Dragon Time is a fairy tale about patience, promises, and the minutes we keep — about learning that not all pressure should be obeyed, that anger can break what duty means to protect, and that good keeping takes patience. There is danger of the quiet, whispering kind; courage of the small, stubborn, everyday kind; and comfort of the oldest kind — a lamplit kitchen, a kettle beginning to sing, and a dragon who keeps the fire in all night.

Illustrated throughout with eighteen engraved chapter medallions, and finished with Madam Brindlewake's own stovetop cookie recipe and a nature-lover's glossary of the Fibonacci sequence. Dragon Time stands on its own, but readers of Berry Time will find the promises deepening from tale to tale.

The magic is old. The stakes are gentle but real. And the tea, naturally, matters.

About this title

About the Author

Rod "Papa" Bennett is the Wizard of Owl Cottage. He writes old-fashioned fairy tales for his grandchildren, has a degree in botany, loves technology in all its myriad forms, and bakes bread. He lives with his wife, Catherine, in the American Midwest.Rod's stories grew from a lifelong affection for the natural world and from the tales he first imagined for his own family. His books blend enchanted woods, curious creatures, quiet humor, and the sense that magic may still be found just beyond the garden gate. The children in his stories encounter places that are beautiful but not entirely safe, adults who are wise but not infallible, and choices with no simple answers. Courage, kindness, responsibility, and mercy matter more in his tales than spells or enchanted objects.His training in botany shapes the landscapes of Owl Cottage. Trees, wildflowers, berries, meadows, and woodland paths are not merely scenery; they give the hidden world its character. Many of the plants in his books are native to the central United States, and Rod hopes these details encourage young readers to notice the living world around them - and to wonder what might be waiting beneath an old stone wall.Before devoting his time to writing, Rod worked as a program manager, a career of careful planning and problem-solving that now serves him well as he builds the interconnected places, histories, and mysteries of Owl Cottage. His enthusiasm for technology continues in his home laboratory, a lively contrast to his love of old books, gardening, and bread baking.Rod writes in the spirit of the classic children's fantasies he has loved all his life: stories meant for children but written with enough depth, wit, and moral complexity to reward the adults reading beside them.At the center of his work is family. The Wizard of Owl Cottage began as stories for his grandchildren and has grown into a world he welcomes other young readers to explore - stories made to be read aloud, remembered fondly, and passed from one generation to the next.

Edition details

• Publisher: Owl Cottage
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798997236045
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352