Miss Fanshawe and the Great Dragon Adventure by Sue Scullard
Miss Fanshawe, the intrepid explorer, bought a live dragon, which was thought to be extinct, back from Southern Patagonia and gave it to a zoo. The drama of this adventure story begins when an egg laid by the dragon is stolen by an exotic creature which disappears with it down a deep hole. Miss Fanshawe gives chase. The artist, using techniques of perspective drawing, trompe l'oeil and with the aid of holes die-cut in the page takes the reader through a strange world of tropical plants and exotic animals down to the centre of the earth. The egg hatches and with the newly-fledged dragon she escapes upward through a busy city of towers, huge columns and spiral stairways, back to the safety of the earth's surface. This is Sue Scullard's first picture book.