Dance of the Snow Dragon

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

This fantasy for young adults effectively utilizes all of the genre’s
typical ingredients. The “unworthy” hero is Sangay Tenzing, a
yak-herd who at 8 was selected by Buddhist monks to leave his Bhutan
village to study to become a monk. At the monastery, Sangay dreams of
learning the sacred dances, but when, at 13, he is given his first
opportunity, he proves himself a very inept pupil. As a monk, he also
appears to be a failure. Instead of returning to his family, Sangay
decides to enter a place of meditation. During his 100 days of solitude,
he experiences a dream-vision in which he sees an embattled kingdom and
a dance of the gods. From this event, he divines his “purpose”—to
venture to “the hidden kingdom beyond the snow-peaks at the world’s
edge.”

Sangay is aided in his quest by the sorceress Jatsang. After numerous
trials, he reaches Shambhala, “the treasure-house of wisdom,” where
he “creates” the dance that saves the kingdom and leads to his
discovery that he is a tulku or reincarnation of Guru Rimpoche, a
legendary monk. However, what appears to be an end for Sangay becomes
just another beginning. Middle- and senior-school fantasy readers will
relish this richly worded, longer-than-normal YA title. Recommended.