Jane and the Dragon is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Martin Baynton

Martin Baynton

Martin Baynton is a British Author, Illustrator, Actor and TV producer. He is a children’s book writer, he has also written fiction for adults and a selection of his short stories have been anthologised. He is well known for his children’s book Jane and the Dragon , which has since been adapted...

. The three books are "Jane and the Dragon" (1988); "The Dragon's Purpose" (1989); and "Jane and the Magician" (2000).

The first book features Jane, a young girl whose mother is a lady-in-waiting

Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...

 to the queen. Jane is expected to grow up in her mother's footsteps, but wishes to become a knight. When the royal prince is kidnapped by a dragon, Jane sets out to rescue the boy.

Baynton says that the inspiration for the books came from his wanting to write "a story about a girl who wanted to follow her dreams despite the expectations of her family and friends" and from a young girl telling him "how she hated fairy stories because the girls were wimps".

The book series inspired an animated series on television

Jane and The Dragon (TV series)

Jane and the Dragon is a CGI animated series based on the books of the same name by Martin Baynton. The show is directed by Mike Fallows and motion capture directed by Peter Salmon; it is co-produced by Weta Workshop in New Zealand and Nelvana Limited in Canada...

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External links

• Jane and the Dragon - Walker Books (publisher) site