“All I ever wanted to be is an artist. And the only teacher who’s ever really disliked me is my art teacher. I want to know why.”

The irony of being disliked by the teacher whose approval he seeks the most is at the center of many of Jeremy’s issues. Tormented by Mr. Kravitz’s apparent disdain, Jeremy suffers from a lack of confidence and comes to regard his time with his art teacher as a considerable torment. In the later chapters of the novel, he will eventually realize that Mr. Kravitz’s pettiness and cruelty arises from the man’s own insecurities and flaws.

“He stood to look around. A little prickle ran down his spine. I’ve never seen this street before.”

Jeremy’s realization that he is in an unfamiliar place despite having lived in Blodgett’s Crossing all his life signifies a shift from the mundane to the extraordinary, which is common in many fantasy stories. This moment defines the protagonist’s initial step into Mr. Elives’s magic shop: a world in which ordinary rules do not apply.

“The egg you have just purchased has already gone through a long aging process. It now needs but two things to be ready to hatch—the light of a full moon, and the words of a true friend.”

This quote from the instructions on how to hatch a dragon emphasizes the novel’s recurring themes of magic and of the power of friendship. The requirement for “the words of a true friend” shows the importance of genuine connections and foreshadows the fact that Jeremy will have to work on Overcoming Insecurities through Responsibility as he navigates the practical aspects of raising a dragon and learns more about the social and emotional aspects of forming a true friendship.