Dealing with Dragons (1990)

Cimorene would rather work for the dragon Kazul than endure the life everyone has planned for a princess. Wrede turns the captive-princess arrangement into a practical negotiation, with dragons who have their own politics and little patience for foolish humans. Cooking, research and stubborn competence help solve the trouble. A funny children’s novel and the first Enchanted Forest Chronicle, with an especially appealing refusal to make a dragon’s main job being defeated.