The Dragon Boy

Bartholomew Stanton Bagnoli felt like he was an only child despite what was to him a gruesome fact. Try as he might he could not avoid reality. He somehow ended up with a wretched older sister, a nightmare of a younger brother and parents that acted way too much of the time like he was invisible. Bart knew deep down that he had been lost somewhere in the middle. At school his teacher Mrs. Harburton talked about first born, middle kids and babies of the family. She said that first borns...
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Bartholomew Stanton Bagnoli felt like he was an only child despite what was to him a gruesome fact. Try as he might he could not avoid reality. He somehow ended up with a wretched older sister, a nightmare of a younger brother and parents that acted way too much of the time like he was invisible. Bart knew deep down that he had been lost somewhere in the middle. At school his teacher Mrs. Harburton talked about first born, middle kids and babies of the family. She said that first borns were likely to be more serious and responsible, last borns were spoiled rotten, and kids like him in the middle were neglected. Bingo! Mystery solved. Now Bart at least understood his fate in life - to be forgotten, a virtual nothing.There was one redeeming possibility. Bart figured there was only one way to go from the bottom of the pile of humanity - up. He lay awake at night trying to figure out some kind of escape plan. He thought about just packing up his comic collection and a few clothes in a suitcase and taking off. It seemed like all kinds of juicy adventures waited for him just outside his front door. He imagined jumping onto a freight train, hitchhiking and stowing away on a boat. Whatever plan Bart could come up with he knew one thing for sure - he needed to escape. If he didn't get out soon, he was either going to burn in hell at the hands of his devil-sister or catch some kind of looney tunes craziness disease from Marvin. One day he decided to build a clubhouse in his back yard out of some old boards and fence posts. Once finished he discovered a huge knot hole in one of the walls. He clonked it out with a hammer and discovered there was an entirely different world on the other side of the fence - a Dragon World! It was his secret as he was always quick to plug the hole up when anyone else came around. When he was alone, however, he couldn't wait to pluck the knot hole out again and peer into that amazing world.One day a young dragon peered back at him through the knot hole.This was the beginning of amazing things happening to Bart and amazing adventures. He decided to escape the people world and go ahead with his dragon friend and live with the dragons. Half way through the fence he chickened out and started backing back into the clubhouse. But it was too late! He had taken on some of the attributes of a dragon! He had a small dragon's tail, very small wings, some scales on his neck and he could blow smoke and a little burst of fire!It was both a problem and a blessing. On the people side of things, especially at school, Bart the smallish underdog kid with the weird name was able to use his dragon powers to go up against Lenny the school bully and his gang. He was also able to win a major sports festival competition using his dragon powers - which he kept as hidden as possible under his shirt. His winning impressed a certain girl named Winnie who he never would have had a chance with as the normal undersized Bart.On the dragon side of the fence, he discovered there were three regions: the idyllic Land of the Dragons, the Beast Region from which beasts of all horrible sorts would invade and the Unknown Land which was ripe for exploration and the discovery of a large variety of amazing creatures, plants and unusual physical phenomena such as anti-gravity caves. Bart found the escape he was looking for both in becoming in part a dragon and in all the excitement and conflict and discovery inside the Dragon World. In the end he chose to undo his dragoness and return as just Bart to his family and to the people world. It was a difficult decision....and one he came to reverse in Book II.