How to Train Your Dragon

Cowell loves to create books about books. Little Bo Peep’s Library Book, her best known book, is packed with in-jokes on genres, title pages, cover blurbs. This too is a book about a book. Timid, weedy Hiccup must pass the Dragon Initiation Programme to become a Viking warrior. Naturally he turns for help to that definitive work ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ by Professor Yobbish only to find it completely useless.

The real story of how to train a dragon and become a hero is told in the main book: Hiccup has to learn the hard way.

Hiccup first appeared in a picture book and Cowell obviously relishes the chance to write a full-length story about him and his dad, the wonderfully named Stoick the Vast. She has great fun creating their Tribe of Hairy Hooligans, inventing their laws and a natural history for their pet dragons. She puts a contemporary spin on the old brains over brawn moral and brings the story to a climax with a thrilling dragon duel. Lots for lots of different readers to enjoy.