How to Train Your Dragon Book 1

Some students think that teachers just want them to read award winning, critically acclaimed, classic literature.  That is so far from the truth!  It's important to read certain books in your life, but it is also important to read what interests you!  That is why my next book to read is "How to Train Your Dragon" by Cressida Cowell.

Well, first let me say that I LOVED the film.  It was one of the best animated films I've ever seen and the fact that it lost the Oscar award for best animated movie is debatable.  I love books that are also movies, so since I loved this movie, I'm sure I'm going to love the book as well.

I know what everyone's first question is going to be; "Is it like the movie?"  The answer is a surprising no.  Many of the characters are the same.  Hiccup and his dad Stoick the Vast are pretty much the same along with Fishlegs and his teacher Gobber.  However, his love interest fails to make an appearance and Toothless, his dragon, is a very different kind of dragon than in the movie.  Differences don't stop at the characters.  The plot was definitely changed for the movie.  In the book, all Vikings raise dragons, not fight them.  How do they train them?  They YELL at them!  Sadly Hiccup is sort of wimpy and pathetic so his yelling skills are not great.  He has to figure out a new way to train his dragon.

Even though the plot is very different, it makes me excited because it will be a whole new story to read.  More to come soon on the original tale of "How to Train Your Dragon!"