Cressida Cowell - How to Train Your Dragon

I seem to be on a comic book/graphic novel kick at the minute and I haven't decided whether I am going to add graphic novels and manga to my blog because it's a different style of book; however, I did decide to read the original book that How to Train Your Dragon film and its sequel, starring Jay Baruchel and Gerard Butler, were inspired from.  I know it's for kids but I wanted to mix things up a bit from my usual books, plus I'm always curious about where a film is adapted from and how it differs which is why I read graphic novels from Marvel and DC.

How to Train Your Dragon is the first in Cressida Cowell's series of the same name which was first published in 2003; How to Train Your Dragon is set in a fictional Viking world and focusses on Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, a young Viking, who is learning how to train his dragon as a pet as his ancestors have before him.

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Dragon lovers; boys would love it

Favourite Characters: Old Wrinkly

Favourite Part: 'Anyway,' said Old Wrinkly, 'it might be just what this Tribe needs, a change in leadership style.  Because the thing is, times are changing.  We can't get away with being bigger and more violent than everybody else any more.  IMAGINATION.  That's what they need and what you've got.  A Hero of the Future is going to have to be clever and cunning, not just a big lump with overdeveloped muscles.  He's going to have to stop everyone quarrelling among themselves -and get them to face the enemy together.' - Page 77-8

Good Points: Engaging story; funny book; different dragons

Bad Points: Massive time skips; could have worked better as first person

How to Train Your Dragon opens as Hiccup and his fellow young Hairy Hooligans as they are starting their dragon training for the first time under the guidance of Gobber.  To become a full member of any Viking tribe, one must capture a dragon and train it to be a hunting dragon which is what our young hero and his fellow Vikings are doing in the first chapter.  Hiccup has a great knowledge base of dragons much like Fishlegs in the film adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon which gives him an edge during his training though doesn't mean he is guaranteed to be successful.  Luckily, all of the young Vikings are successful in capturing their own dragon to train but unfortunately for Hiccup, he captures what appears to be a toothless Common or Garden dragon much to his disappointment.  To make matters even worse, his little dragon is a stubborn thing who refuses to do as Hiccup says no matter what he tries which is the main theme in this story.

I found this children's book to be really engaging as you read how Hiccup struggled to become what those around him define as a proper Viking and you got to learn a fair amount about the young Viking through this book and how he was different from the others which made him interesting.  It's a shame this wasn't out when I was about eight/nine because I would have loved this as it kept my attention whenever I had time to pick it up as the characters were funny and though the story is different to that of the film, it was good to see a different fictional history to dragons.  I am definitely saving this for my own kids.

It was a very funny book which was unusual for me because it is not very often that a book makes me laugh out loud but this time, I did.  It helped that the illustrations, while simple and child-like, brought this humorous air to the book which I loved because it illustrated perfectly how Hiccup felt about everyone or how he saw them.  His dad was big and hairy, the other boys in his dragon training class are big, burly and unintelligent-looking, while Gobber is ugly and kind of disgusting to look at as he is described.  There are also enough jokes about poo and such to keep a young boy entertained for a time but not loads to put you off the book.

Much like the film adaptations, there are so many different dragons and all designed to look like how you would expect a dragon to look while the film dragons look like other creatures as well.  I can't wait to learn more about the different dragons throughout the series as the world expands and the fictional history is slowly being expanded upon which is always interesting for me because new dragons can be added in each book to bring a new, fresh element to the story.

Much like Hiccup, Old Wrinkly, his maternal grandfather, stands out from the other Vikings but is a lot like Hiccup as he prides himself on his brain rather than brawn which made him my favourite character.  It's almost like he's Hiccup's inspiration to go against the norm and be his own kind of Viking and is a lot like how Hiccup is in the film I think.  Personally, I think it's a shame that Old Wrinkly isn't in the film franchise because he could have been someone Hiccup could have related to properly in the tribe.

I was disappointed by the massive time skips that occurred, months were just passed over as Hiccup tried to train his disobedient dragon, Toothless.  It would have been interesting to see a bit more of the training rather than random snippets because it would have provided more comedy as Hiccup messes up and Toothless refuses to do as he's told, like a child.

I may have enjoyed this book more if it had been a fictional autobiography, written in the first person, rather than in the third person because it added distance between Hiccup and the reader.  If Cowell had written it as if she were Hiccup then when speaking about Hiccup's feelings on a certain matter could have been more authentic because it's from the horse's mouth, not from someone assuming or exaggerating a situation.  However, I can understand writing in the third person because it gives the allusion of a history book, even it's fictional, as it documents Hiccup's life for us in the present.

'Anyway,' said Old Wrinkly, 'it might be just what this Tribe needs, a change in leadership style.  Because the thing is, times are changing.  We can't get away with being bigger and more violent than everybody else any more.  IMAGINATION.  That's what they need and what you've got.  A Hero of the Future is going to have to be clever and cunning, not just a big lump with overdeveloped muscles.  He's going to have to stop everyone quarrelling among themselves -and get them to face the enemy together.' - Page 77-8

As I've said, Old Wrinkly is my favourite character because he stands out from the other Vikings like Hiccup; this was the moment where he became my favourite character though as he encouraged his young grandson to take a different path and is the inspiration behind Hiccup's character in the film as well.  I completely agree with Old Wrinkly that the Vikings need to think differently so that they can survive in this world and I think Hiccup is the one to do that in this series.  It also made me laugh when he spoke of the Vikings

The entire story was engaging I found because you got to learn about Hiccup and made the topic of training dragons enjoyable and I found the book to be funny as well and made me laugh out loud which is great for a kid's book so that they can enjoy it more with silly moments.  I have to say though that it is a shame that Old Wrinkly, Hiccup's grandfather wasn't in the films because it would have given Hiccup someone to relate to better.  Overall, it was a good book, especially for children but the massive time skips that occurred were a downside for me because I would have liked to have read more about the training process as well as if it had been written in the first person from Hiccup's point of view as if it was his autobiography so to create the allusion that it is a real world.  These are only personal preferences but I did enjoy this book and am looking into getting the rest of the series when I have time to read it so hopefully there will be more on here.  Kids will love it and though it is different from the films, the essence is still there for kids to enjoy as dragons play an integral part in this world as they do in the second film of the franchise.  Enjoy!

Predictions

1. Toothless's breed is actually discovered

2. Hiccup and Stoick become closer
3. Old Wrinkly continues to fight for Hiccup and his unusual ways