3 stars

A charming little book that presents differing and difficult family situations in a way that middle-grade readers can process and work through while reading. It’s a gentle book, and the observational quality of our narrator character will probably help young readers to absorb all that’s going on around her.

I decided to read this book to see if it would be good for my nephews, and perhaps get them interested in bearded dragons (I have one that they have yet to meet). Alas, Freddy, the bearded dragon in the title, has only a little role in the story, and his raison d’etre gets somewhat lost along the way. However, this is highly preferable to a situation I was fearing—that Freddy would be overly involved in some climax that might encourage harmful mimicry in young readers with lizards. As a pet, Freddy is delightful, and the author doesn’t encourage bad husbandry (which is surprisingly common in children’s books featuring exotic pets) so overall the bearded dragon representation is positive and I loved every moment he was on the page.

As a children’s book, this is solid; parents and educators may want to read it first, as the depiction of parental neglect is heartbreakingly accurate, but I think that children will understand it. As a bearded dragon book, it’s window-dressing, but nice and non-harmful window-dressing, which is depressingly rare.

Georgia’s mom leaves and when Georgia gets a bearded dragon, Freddy, she promises to take good care of him so mom will come back. One day Georgia and her best friend, Maria meet Roland who’s in foster care and they become friends, until as Roland says, his big brother Preston comes to get him when he turns 18. Then Georgia receives a letter from mom who’s coming for a visit and bringing her new baby sister. When mom arrives she brings her new husband, Lyle and her baby sister. Georgia loves her new sister and taking care of her. Then her mom makes a secret announcement: she has a job offer on a cruise ship as a singer and wants to take Georgia and the baby. Will they all go? What would this do to her dad?