The Deadly Fang (Super Epic Dragon Quest #1)

By Adam Wallace &  James Hart

Reviewed by Sophia Evans

Super Epic Dragon Quest #1: The Deadly Fang is an action packed, humorous story that follows the fantastical adventures of Arlo. Because Arlo’s parents spend all day complaining and being grumpy, Arlo basically runs the family farm by himself. He carefully brushes the unibrows of the unicows, milks jelly from the jellygoats and feeds tasty treats to the three-horned pigs.

One day, the queen of Ticklebrook announces a tournament to find a hero, to go on a quest, to restore the magical waterfall flowing from Dragon Mountain. After the gruelling tournament, Arlo teams up with adventurer Julia to find an invisible island, defeat a terrible foe and bring back the first piece of the Super Epic Dragon treasure.

The quest is an old storytelling technique, but Adam Wallace puts a modern spin on the language and characters to make them appealing to younger readers. He weaves heroes in undies, stinky cabbage farts and embarrassing dads-in-onesies into this epic quest and hilarity ensues.

As with all his books, James Hart has a way of bringing characters to life and showing detailed expressions with a few simple lines. There are ample pictures on each page with some spreads including only one or two sentences to give the reader a chance to focus on the pictures.

Adventure lovers and those who laugh at stinky cabbage farts, age 6 and up will love this book.

Adam Wallace is a New York Times bestselling author with over 11 million books sold. He has written over 173 books and has no plans on stopping any time soon.

James Hart is an award-winning illustrator, and with a career that spans over 20 years, has too many fantastic books and series to name in this short review.

Scholastic Australia 2025