Pennykettle Dragons

[Dragons in Books] 
The author Chris d'Lacy has written many books about dragons, the most famous ones, 'The Last Dragon Chronicles'*, are about many things: legendary polar bears, ethereal thought-beings from space, creative and destructive energy and squirrels. 'The Dragons of Wayward Crescent' are books for younger readers introducing them to characters mentioned in TLDC. The book 'Rain and Fire' is a guide to the series by the author's wife, and explains things nice and clearly. 


The Clay Dragons
Elizabeth Pennykettle is a lady who makes clay dragons which are actually alive. In 'The Fire Within' we learn about the creative auma, a delicate force that animates the clay, turning the quirky semi-bipedal, four-winged, large eared, spiky tailed green ornaments into the noble heroes of the series. When Liz the potter makes a clay dragon she takes it to her studio, the enigmatic 'Dragon's Den' and the creature is 'kindled' by two other dragons, Gawain and Guinevere. The dragon is also given a little bit of a melted snowball (later revealed to be ice from the Artic, pure 'white fire', the frozen fire tear of the last dragon, Gawain.) and it comes alive. The creature also needs to be named, and the name has to be something starting with 'G'. G represents the tail of Godith, the mighty shedragon who created the universe with one breath (The Big Bang). To have G (a tail curling around with a triangular tip) at the start of your name is a mark of respect. Any name starting with 'G' will awaken a clay dragon, even if it is merely a confused bundle of words, which the protagonist of the story finds out when he is asked to name an unusual dragon and he hesitates and says "Golly... Gosh... I can't think of a name..." and the dragon awakens, and is forever known as Gollygosh.
There are different types of clay dragons with different abilities:  G'reth can grant wishes, Glade is a mood dragon, there is a network of listening dragons, Gretel is a potions dragon, and Gadzooks is one of the most special dragons as he is a writing dragon.
Clay dragons love snow and are fascinated by it, as snow is like the frozen fire tear of Gawain. Sitting on windows is therefore one of their favorite things to do. They say 'hrrr' when they are happy, and sometimes when they are annoyed. They communicate in 'hrrr's. 
If you make a clay dragon sad, it will cry out a fire tear. Within the tear is the essence of the dragon.


The Natural Dragons
The term 'Natural Dragon' refers to BIG dragons, like Gawain, the last titanic dragon to fly the Earth. The dragons in The Last Dragon Chronicles are huge, and until Dark Fire they sleep beyond death under hills and islands. Like the clay dragons, their 'fire within', or 'auma' can be cried out in a fire tear. When this happens, the dragon's soul trickles through the ground and makes its way to the centre of the Earth, to The Fire Eternal. Without a soul, the dragon's body turns into rock or clay. Dragons are closely linked to the Earth Goddess Gaia, which is why they return to their basic elements when they die.
However, if a dragon's fire tear does not go into the ground the soul can be preserved. All the events in The Last Dragon Chronicles centre around an ancient story about a girl called Guinevere and her love for the last dragon on Earth, and the preservation of his fire tear.
In the books there are aliens called The Fain. They live to 'commingle' with other creatures: for their minds to melt together. Their ultimate aim in life is to 'commingle' with a dragon. This is why, later on in the series, the Fain try to reintroduce dragons to Earth.
Natural Dragons have four legs, two wings, and come in a variety of colours with different scale patterns and head crests. Their auma is pure creative energy, so each dragon looks a lot different from the next one.
All dragons in the series have triagnular scalene eye sockets, and all of them have a triangular scale at the end of their tail called an icosele.


Other Dragon-ish creatures in the books
-Darklings. They are made with obsidian instead of clay, and dark fire instead of white fire. Ravens can also morph into them.
-Firebirds. They are the Co:Pern:Ica's answer to the Pennykettle dragons. Their names begin with 'A' in honour of Agawin.


*
The Fire Within ~ Mostly about David Rain moving in with the Pennykettles and learning about Liz and Lucy's eccentric dragon-based beliefs. He writes a story about squirrels for Lucy, and the story concentrates on the dramatic lives of the local squirrels.
Icefire ~ The world is turned up-side down from the safe domestic drama of the first book to a world of witches, bears and real dragons.
Fire Star ~ David goes on a trip to the Artic, whilst writing a story about polar bears. A large orange star appears in the sky, heralding a change in ages.
The Fire Eternal ~ Life without David, strange goings-on and aliens.
Dark Fire ~ DRAGONS RETURN TO EARTH.
Fire World ~ Set in a parallel dimension, about the friendship of a young boy called David and his friend Rosa in the mysterious Librarium, and the secrets of Project 42. 
The Fire Ascending ~ I have yet to read this.