Sequel to Cornelia Funke's Dragon Rider!

Bestselling author Cornelia Funke has listened to her fans and written a follow-up story to Dragon Rider, which sees young dragon rider Ben leaving his home to embark on a new mission, to save the last three Pegasi foals.

Ben and his adoptive father Professor Greenbloom must find the sun feather of a Griffin, the only thing that can save the lives of the three unborn foals. Look out for magical beings, journeys across vast landscapes and dangerous battles ahead! We asked author Cornelia Funke to tell us more about her latest book: Q: What inspired you to write the first Dragon Rider book? A: It is so long ago, I can barely remember! I wrote Dragon Rider more than 19 years ago, after a TV producer had asked me to make my very first book, A Quest for a Dragon, 'longer' (to quote him) for an animated adaptation. I explained that books can't be stretched like rubber bands and that I will try to write a new, better and longer version of the story. When I went to work on it I realized that I didn't want to write the story for an animated TV series. Instead I wrote my very first long novel, much encouraged by my late publisher, Uwe Weitendorf. The book changed my life in many ways, as it made me a true writer. Before I wrote this book I considered myself mostly an illustrator who wrote stories for her illustrations :) Q: Why did you decide to return to Dragon Rider to write a sequel? A: I had tried several times as in every event readers asked me to write a sequel, but I always felt like I was repeating myself and I hate sequels that are weaker than the original. I want sequels to grow a world and story, not shrink it. A few years ago I did develop an App for Reckless with artists in LA, and I was so happy with the result that we decided to do another one of Dragon Rider - which proved to be far more difficult than Reckless. But - while we were working on Mission Volcano (the third Dragon Rider adventure), I suddenly felt such yearning to write about these characters again that I sat down and... wrote A Griffin's Feather. The story came as easily as if it had been waiting. I shouldn't forget to mention that it was for sure inspired by my two Alexandrian Parakeets, Marley and Mozart. Q: In the story you have created MIMAMEIDR, where Ben and his new family look after fabulous beings. Where does the name come from? A: MIMAMEIDR is the name of a mythical tree from Norse mythology and I admit I am never quite sure how to pronounce it :) - I say MEEMUMIDRRRR. Q: Do all the fabulous creatures in the story come from mythology? A: I did a LOT of research for this book - on Indonesian forests, animals, myths, on Indian birds and Norwegian myth, flora and fauna.... but of course I also invented many, many creatures myself. I like to play riffs on mythology, be inspired but interprete it with my 21st century eyes. Q: Of all the fantastical creatures you describe in the Dragon Rider books, which would you most like to meet? A: Oh that is so difficult to decide!! I named my company in the US Twigleg, which shows I always had a weakness for the homunculus. But I also have a great fondness for Hothbrodd, the troll, and for Shrii, the griffin, and for Tattoo and Eugene, the four eyed crab and Eight and ...as you see, I can't really decide! :) Q: Are your mythical creatures as real to you as the humans characters you have created? A: Yes, of course. I am currently working on a sequence of paintings, that show my closest friends as mythical creatures. I think we all are. I guess Fox, my shapeshifting heroine in Reckless, is the strongest incarnation of that belief. Q: Which of your secondary characters have you found the most fun to develop? A: Lola Greytail is definitely an Alter Ego of mine, and Hothbrodd makes me want to write a dozen books about him. Luckily most of them will return in the next book, so I can find out more about them all Q: You have many different settings in the book, including Norway and Indonesia. Have you travelled there? A: Funnily I have been to so many countries by now, but Indonesia is not among them - which means I did only work from research as I did with the Himalayas for Dragon Rider. But I very much hope to go in the next few years. And - I will set the next Dragon Rider book in Malibu and possibly New Zealand, to use places I know very well. Q: Is there a message in your books that we should care for the world we find ourselves in? A: As this world is in such a sad state, I do believe by now that I have to raise my voice for what I am passionate about. All my inspiration comes from the natural world. I believe it to define our very essence and I intend to become more and more active for its preservation and protection. I just bought 10 acres in the Santa Monica mountains overlooking the Pacific that I want to keep wild and use as an inspiring place for young artists from all over the world. I have also bought a property, here in Malibu, that will hopefully one day see workshops and brainstorms of creativity both on conservancy and artistic projects - and feed the connection between both. Q: In The Griffin's Feather, why do you make the Griffins so ferocious and destructiv? A: I didn't want to paint this world black and white - here the evil and exploiting humans, there the noble fabulous creatures. I wanted light and dark on both sides. We need more respect for the non-humans that share this planet with us, but not by romanticizing the natural world. We need to once again learn to understand it. Q: What are your top tips for young writers to create fantasy settings that are believeable? A: Never forget that every imagined world is a love song for this one, as only this world feeds our imagination - with all its beauty and terror. Q: Now you've returned to Dragon Rider, will Ben and the Greenblooms be heading off on more rescues and adventures? A: Yes. Mission Volcano will be published first as an audio play in Germany with the company I founded in Hamburg with a very close friend of mine, Eduardo Garcia. I am working on the story line for the next book adventure. Q: Where did you write The Griffin's Feather? A: I wrote Griffin's Feather in my Writing House in LA, a small house in my garden stuffed with books and dragons and all the things my readers send me. But I just sold that house, so the next book will be written at 3Charms, the property I just bought in Malibu, where my writing house will be a rusty metal barn under Sycamore trees, on six acres of wild land that once was an avocado farm:) I plan to soon have a few guest houses and studios to receive artists from all over the world and to collaborate and play with music and story together. As the world gets more and more nationalistic again, I want to connect my readers all over the world in whatever way I can. Q: What other projects are you involved with and what are you writing now? A: I am currently writing The Islands of the Fox, the fourth Reckless adventure, set in Japan, America and some other countries:) I am vastly enjoying it. I am also working on The Colour of Revenge, a sequel to the Ink-books, and I am doing research for the next Dragon Rider, which I hope to start writing in January. I am collaborating on a novel adaptation of Pan's Labyrinth with Guillermo del Toro and I just published the first picture book I wrote first in English and illustrated myself, The Book No One Ever Read.