How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell is a heartwarming story for children and adults alike. Full of adventure, humor, and narrated by David Tennant, this story will keep the attention of even the busiest children whether in the car or at home.
The story takes us back to the time of the Vikings, when men were big, strong, and fearless. Some of the dragons that shared their land didn't even scare them. Among the most fearless of the Hairy the Hooligan tribe is Stoick the Vast, a leader among the people. His son, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III does not, however, follow in his father's footsteps. When Hiccup and the other boys his age are sent on a mission to capture a dragon to train, Hiccup returns, much to the dismay of his family, with a small, scrawny dragon he names Toothless.
Hiccup works with Toothless every day, and his techniques are far from ordinary. While everyone thinks that Hiccup will never amount to much, his time spend with Toothless pays off. When an enormous scary dragon threatens the existence of the Viking tribe, Hiccup and Toothless work together to try and save them. Will Hiccup find his own road to becoming a Viking hero? The story shows that sometimes being different has its advantages, and that brains sometimes win out over size and strength.
Author Cressida Cowell has written 8 books in the Hiccup series, all stories about this smaller than average warrior told with great humor that children and adults enjoy. She lives in Hammersmith, England with her family after spending much of her life growing up in London. She won the Nestle Children's Book Prize in 2006 and had the pleasure of seeing this particular story brought to life on the silver screen by Dreamworks in 2010.
"Whoa, well. WELL. This... was vastly different from the film adaptation! Really, they're two completely different things. It's like the film is the prequel to the book's set up. But the same main event and characters. Some of them. I can't really explain, I'll just say that I am now just excited to find out about the next couple of Hiccup adventures, and how the TV series is constructed as a bridge between the 2010 film and the 2014 sequel. I wonder how much of the book material is going to end up in the scripts for those things. Before I can speculate of course, I'll have to read the next book in the series."
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Louelle (4 out of 5 stars)