A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons

This series of books has been a hit with my 6 year old grandson (and me). We are working our way through the entire collection about the boyhood of the famous Viking Hiccup and his friends and dragons. Vivid characters, sometimes crude and a little violent, the stories are creative, suspenseful and exciting. Although they are stand alone stories with flashbacks and background, it is far more fun to start with Book 1 and work your way through the series. Even the drawings done by the author are terrific. Yes Vikings can be ugly and it beats the beautified and sanitized version of books one and two Disney did. Hats off toe Cowell.

I ordered this book for my son. He has read all the books in this series (this is #5 or #6) and I can't express in words how much he LOVES the whole series. He is a reluctant reader, but zips through these books in less than a week! This book is a bit longer than the preious books, so it took him a bit longer to read. I asked him if this title was better or worse than the other books. He said it was just as good as all the previous books. I love the series because it is about a little viking boy, Hiccup, who doesn't fit into the viking mold. He is the son of the tribe's chief, and thus the heir, but instead of being big, strong, and mean, he is small, smart, skinny, and a "book-worm." He is also a bit of a dragon-whisperer. He uses his brains and ingenuity to solve problems and outwit enemies. We know that he grows up to be a great leader of his tribe, because these books are written as translations of his memoirs that recently washed up on the beach! If your child loves fantasy, then I recommend these books.

I bought this series of books for my 8 yr old grandson. The book is full of adventures and how to get out of tight spots and also with a lot of humor intertwined. It is nothing like the movie but more of what you would think a book for young boys to really enjoy reading or being read to. He did his first ever book report on these books and the teacher so enjoyed it he got a 100%. I am actually enjoying the time we spend reading together and talking about what will happen next.

My daughter and I are reading through all the How to train your dragon books. It is a great set for kids in elementary. we started reading these when she was 7. I assigned her about 15 pages a day to read. We are slowly making our way to the last book.

Rounded up the set now my son has them all

Comments from my 7 year old son: “It is a really good book and there are always different things happening in the book and they are still very exciting!”

My son loves these books. They are great and the hard cover looks old fashion. The pages are all a little different in size. The paperback does not have that.

Great quality, great book

My granddaughter introduced me to Hiccup and Toothless and my life became enriched with dragons and children who live on the Island of Berk.Listening to these stories while sitting with my granddaughter is just magical. We both get so involved with the accents. The triumphs and failures and adventures.Cressida Cowell knows how to write stories that both adults and children can immerse themselves in and get total enjoyment from the experience.Treebeard.Breakaway Reviewers bought a copy of the book to review.

Brave viking children, crazy dragons, another classic tale from Cressida that will not disappoint Hiccup fans. I would suggest an age of 5-8.This is one of those books where the adult enjoys reading a chapter a night to their child almost as much as the child. Certainly my 6 yr old daughter and my 40 yr old husband seem to chuckle away at the crazy humour and funny jokes in equal amounts. They have read all 5 previous books and found this one just as good. Written in the same style as the others, if you have enjoyed the previous books, this will meet your expectations. If you have not read the other earlier books, whilst it is not essential they are read in order, perhaps worth considering reading from Bk1 first. Imaginative, fun, gently rude in a silly way, wonderful characters such as Fishlegs and Toothless the dragon along with a new language called Dragonese to learn..

My 7-8 year old loves this series. Its great to find something they want to read independently. If you like this you should also try the Tashi series (I think Australian and not widely available in the UK) but similarly fun and accessible...

I got the first one for my son as he is reading books very quickly. Bought the whole series, some he read on his own, others we would share reading before bed time. The whole series is fantastic. It is quite enjoyable for kids who are starting to ask questions about how they fit in the world to see how unlikely heroes like Hiccup and Fishlegs manage to adapt time and time again.Over all it is a thoroughly enjoyable read. The story line is great and we are looking forward to the next installment to find out what happens to Hiccup and friends.

These books get better with each one. A must read. Cannot wait to start reading book 7. Once you start you will not want to put it down.