Review- How to Train your Dragon (Books 1-12)

Author: Cressida Cowell

Suggested age range: 9-14 years

If there’s one thing the How to Train Your Dragon series taught me, it’s to expect the unexpected. While this might be a bit of a spoiler, the protagonist of the series, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is often the unlikely hero and saviour.

Hiccup himself grows from being an unnoticed, often bullied, weak boy to being a leader of the Vikings. This character development happens over the series.

Other captivating bits of the series include learning how to speak Dragonese. The over-the-top humour and funny illustrations of huge dragons versus puny Fishlegs (Hiccup’s best friend) and Hiccup's hilarious antics make it a series you want to come back to. The only thing to watch out for is to follow the story well; you must read the books in the correct order (even though the cover suggests that you don’t need to read them in order) to get the whole story. It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle!

Overall I think the author has an imagination that can only be found in a few people and it is a great, must-read series.