When Tipper's father disappeared it became necessary for her to take charge of the family estate in his absence. Tipper has resorted to selling off her father's precious artwork to make ends meet. This innocent act has put her father's life in danger and threatens to unbalance the world. With the help of an unusual collection of supporters Tipper sets off on a quest to set things right, and through trials and tribulations she eventually learns of the power and love of Wulder.

This fantasy by the author of the DragonKeeper Chronicles takes place in a different country and an earlier time. Well written and full of fascinating characters, this book will be tough to put down. Fantasy lovers will find it hard to resist the wizard with all sorts of curious things spilling out of his robes, his librarian, and other irresistible characters, among them minor dragons and riding dragons.

Donita K. Paul demonstrates an amazing imagination and writing talent with her creation of a world unlike any you've ever seen.

OK, I'm ready for the next book in THIS series! I loved the previous Dragon series and wasn't sure I would like a 'prequel'. But "The Vanishing Sculptor" is really lovely. It is one of those books that you'd better have the time to read it all, because you won't be able to put it down. Tipper is truly a captivating heroine and I'd love to meet her mother in person! It was fun to revisit some of the people who inhabited the Dragon series. And I want a minor dragon of my own. I don't feel it is necessary to share any more of the story than you can read on the back cover; I don't appreciate reviewers who find it necessary to tell you all the good parts in their reviews! So all I will tell you is, get this book and read it for yourself. It is such a blessing to read a good fantasy story with a Christian message.

Something original. Does not happen often in the genre of fantasy fiction. However, The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K. Paul manages to take the idea of something old, something new to a whole new level. From the tip of a tumanhofer's tongue to the feet of an aged emerlindian's throne, this epic adventure of self-discovery simply challenges the reader to do what makes reading the best form of entertainment: use the imagination. Not since the days of my youth has a novel moved and inspired me in such a mysterious manner. At thirty-four, I became fifteen again, rediscovering emotions and excitement I had not felt since first reading books like Tolkien's The Hobbit, Richard A. Knaak's The Legend of Huma, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

Since those early days, many books have come and gone as I chased that ever-elusive wonder of experience. Thanks to Donita K. Paul, that wonder has returned, bottled neatly in a potion tucked somewhere in a hollow within the Wizard Fenworth's robes. Truly a book for all ages, this grand design of an epic designed by Paul manages to totally captivate, encapsulating the very essence of creative story telling.

With so many imitators of the classics, as well as followers of Harry Potter and Twilight, this fresh take on a tired genre invigorates. There are so few books that I feel compelled to pass onto my students. They dwell in the Rowling and Meyer universes, and nothing current seems to be able to break them from these authors' spells. That was until Paul's The Vanishing Sculptor. This breathtakingly brilliant novel will undoubtedly set the 8th grade imagination afire, and in a manner that is productive, positive, and full of purity. This will be the year of the Sculptor.

The message of God's love shines through the depths of each page throughout this novel, and the manner in which Donita K. Paul entwines Scripture into fiction is nothing short of phenomenal. A must read for the believer and non-believe alike, this fertile tale will surely enliven every reader with the presence of the Holy Spirit. It reaches out to the lost, and before anyone has a chance to realize it, God's message of love and salvation will take root and blossom. Truly a masterpiece in modern fiction.

With such an important edition, not just to the genre of fantasy fiction but also to the whole of fiction, this tale astonishingly leaves the reader yearning for more. I can only count the days until the release of its sequel.

-J.R. Seus, author and 8th grade English teacher

If you haven't read any of Paul's Dragon series I would strongly suggest you try those first. There is a lot of unexplained ideology and terminology that are difficult to follow if you're not familiar with her world.

Much more clean cut than a lot of other fantasy books out there these days.

I thoroughly enjoyed the "DragonKeeper Chronicles" series and they're the favorite books of my 11-year-old friend, so we were obviously looking forward to this book. You don't need to read those books to understand this one, but I'd suggest reading them first because I liked them more.

"The Vanishing Sculptor" is a Christian allegorical fantasy novel. It is a good book with enjoyable and entertaining characters. However, I don't think this book had the right viewpoint character. Jayrus is the character most necessary to the quest and who develops the most, but he's not a viewpoint character. On the other hand, Tipper is very impulsive and enthusiastic, but serves mainly for reader laughs and as hostage/bait. She's not necessary to the quest and plays only a minor role in the success of the last battle.

The beginning of the story is a smidgen slow, but the pacing picks up once the travelling begins. The world-building is good, but the author tends to use unfamiliar names for things (whether unique to her world or not) without giving the reader a good idea of what they are. There is a glossary in the back, though, and the book is understandable even without it.

The text rarely tells which direction the group is travelling. However, the map at the front of the book doesn't agree with the direction and distances that are given in the text, which I found confusing.

All that said, I suspect that most young adults and many adults will thoroughly enjoy the book. Since all the Christian elements are allegorical and sometimes even a bit non-obvious for Christians, non-Christians will probably also enjoy the book.

There was no sex, cussing, or gore. Overall, I'd rate this good, clean fun.

Hmmm... what to say about this one. I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it. It lied somewhere in the hazy middle. First off I'm not a huge fan of mystical books, but that's not really what I didn't like about it. It seemed to take forever for me to read it. I started it on a Friday and didn't finish it till the next Thursday, and for a 400 page YA book, that was just too long.

The story deals with quite a few things, but one of the main ideas is that of faith. The idea of Wulder and what he is capable of weaves itself throughout the entire story.

There were definitely some good things about this book. The author was very creative. I liked the character of Beccaroon very much. There were quite a few times when I laughed at his remarks. The banter between the wizard and the librarian was also fairly entertaining. The descriptions were quite well written and I could see the places that were being described as well as a good image of the characters. I actually saw Drew Barrymore as Tipper (don't know why I don't normally associate book characters with real people). Donita Paul seems to have a great imagination and is able to portray her images quite well. I also really liked the glossary in the back. I referred to it quite often throughout the story and it did help me keep track of who was who and what part they played in the overall story.

While I did like some of the characters I didn't really connect with any of them. Tipper seemed to jump between being very level-headed and quite flighty. The rest of the characters seemed to be very eccentric and hard for me to relate to.

I guess my biggest problem would be that this was a slow read, but like I said I'm not really into this genre. Maybe for someone that likes this kind of story it would be a more enjoyable and quicker read.

I had never read the Dragon series by Donita Paul, so I was a little hesitant to pick up this first book by her. The Vanishing Sculptor is based in the same world as her dragon series, but new characters and new lands.

Tipper is the daughter of an expert artisan - who has disappeared. (Catch the title?) She has been selling his work in order to pay for the estate in which she lives.

One night, her father returns with two friends, a wizard and a librarian; but something isn't quite right. He keeps vanishing and then reappearing.

These four, along with Tipper's talking bird and little house dragons, set off on a quest to retrieve 3 of her father's sculptures in order to set things right with dad.

Paul continues her allegory with the God character being called another name. I'm not sure where the dragons fit in with everything and the character names were a mouthful. I couldn't find myself engaging with the story but that may be because I've not read her previous work.

This book would be a nice gift for fantasy lovers and young teenagers.

I really enjoyed this book. I think it is a good idea to be familiar with the Dragon Keeper series before reading this book. It works as a stand alone, but I think it flowed well for me because I was familiar with s few terms and ideas already. I definitely recommend this book and the Dragon Keeper series!

Tipper, a young Emerlindian, has been responsible for her family's upkeep since her sculptor father vanished several years back. It's been years since she last saw her father, and her mother's, the Lady Peg, mental health has slowly been deteriorating since then, so she has had to single-handedly do everything in her power to maintain her family's good name. She has even had to sell her father's beloved sculptures for money in order to pay their servants and purchase food. Until the night her father, Verrin Schope, returns with tales of wondrous places, gateways, and the fact that he keeps appearing and disappearing and then reappearing through her mothers closet. It seems the gateway that brought him back home is unstable and keeps bringing him back and forth through time which is ultimately affecting his health in the process. Yet there is hope as three of his sculptures can save him, the only problem, Tipper obviously sold these pieces and she has no idea whom the buyers were or even in which town or village they might be able to start looking in. Thus the adventure begins for Tipper, Verrin and Tipper's faithful guardian, Beccaroon (who's a five-foot tall parrot), as they set forth on this journey.

Since I have never read any of Ms. Paul's "DragonKeeper Chronicles", a lot of the terms used in this story were new to me. Luckily, there was a handy glossary at the back of the book that I kept referring to for help. And I also want to make note that there were some inconsistencies with the map and the story itself - so I was a little lost at times as to where exactly the characters were in the story when compared to the map, but other than that, I can definitely see the appeal this story would have on children and adults alike. The story has an undeniable Christian message, but it is subtle enough for a non-believer to also enjoy the book.

The characters were quirky, funny and quite endearing and Ms. Paul's writing builds a world that you can definitely envision. I recommend this for young and older readers alike, or anyone who enjoys science fiction, good writing and magical characters.