Dealing with Dragons

Dealing with Dragons is a fantasy novel for children by the American writer Patricia C. Wrede, published in 1990 and the first book in her Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

Cimorene is bored by embroidery and etiquette, and she finds ways to learn swordplay, magic and the rest behind her parents' backs, which is why they arrange a marriage for her and expect the matter to be settled. She leaves instead, and after some searching volunteers to be the captive princess of Kazul, a dragon who needs somebody to organise her library and her hoard. The arrangement suits them both. The trouble comes from a conspiracy among the wizards, who are not supposed to be able to work magic on the dragons' mountain and have found a way to try, and Cimorene is the one who notices. The book is a comedy built around a princess who solves problems by being interested in the right things.

It began a series of four novels set in the Enchanted Forest and in the mountains where the dragons live, and the princess keeps her job through all of them.