How to Train your Dragon

Title: How to Train Your Dragon
Author: Cressida Cowell
Ages: 8-12
Rating: 4/5

Plot: Hiccup is a Viking hero, but he was not always very heroic. He is small for his age, doesn’t like to yell, speaks to dragons and on top of it all his dragon is toothless. But Hiccup proves that being a hero doesn’t only have to do with how loud you can yell.

Assessment: A good book for young boys who find humour in silly names like Fishlegs and Snoutlout, and some bathroom humour. The writing in this book uses some interesting fonts which help to make reading more interactive. The language while juvenile, does also give children an opportunity to add words to their vocabulary.

This novel while not entirely historically accurate, does include some elements that we know about Vikings such as the funeral ceremony and some of the descriptions of the landscape where they lived. The drawings included look like they were drawn by hand and by a young person, this makes it seem like Hiccup was actually telling his story when he was the 10 year old of the story.

If this book was a success recommend the rest of the series, or also try:
My Weird School (series) -by Dan Gutman
Captain Underpants (series)-by Dav Pilkey
Geronimo Stilton (series) -by Geronimo Stilton

Cowell, C. (2003). How to Train your Dragon: by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. London, UK: Hachette Children's Books.