Thelovelynerd: How To Train Your Dragon (Book 1) by Cressida Cowell

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316085278/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316085278&linkCode=as2&tag=yumbitbyamy05-20&linkId=M32POVB6ZGWN6S6M

(A clickable image that sends you to an amazon page for How To Train Your Dragon: Book 1)

How To Train Your Dragon (by Cressida Cowell) is one of the most humorous novels I have ever read. Taking place roughly around 793, when Viking Clans were very popular, Hiccup was struggling to become the "hero" his father, the chief of Hairy Hooligans, wanted him to be. The trouble is, Hiccup isn't the hero type. He isn't particularly strong, or harsh worded. He isn't his cousin, Snotface Snotlout, who is all the characteristics of a hero. Snotlout, the boy under thirteen who has: noticeable muscles, skeleton tattoos, and the beginnings of a small mustache, is exactly what the Hairy Hooligan tribes is looking for in a warrior, and he doesn't let anyone forget that he is superior over them.

Step One to become a Hairy Hooligan: catch a sleeping dragon from the Dragon Nursery. Easy task, right? Wrong. As they are picking their dragons, Fishlegs, another outcast in the Hairy Hooligan Tribe, sneezes multiple times, waking up the sleeping dragons. When Fishlegs realizes he didn't grab a dragon, Hiccup gives him his, and goes back to grab another. He is compelled to grab one from an attached cave, grabs it, and goes without looking at it. As the boys are walking back to their homes, Fishlegs and Hiccup decide to take a look at their new dragons they are to train. Fishlegs given dragon is a basic brown, okay, but not wonderful. Snotlout's is a terrifying Monstrous Nightmare, which is, in Hairy Hooligan terms, a very honorable dragon. Hiccup's? The most tiniest common dragon anyone has ever witnessed.

Step Two to becoming a Hairy Hooligan: Train your Dragon in time for Initiation Day held on Thor's Day Thursday Celebrations. According to Professor Yobbish, the most, and only, way to train a dragon is to yell at it. As usual, with the unlucky Hiccup, that method doesn't seem to work. With Old Wrinkly's advice, Hiccup devises his own way of training his runt dragon, Toothless, against the teasing of his peers.

1) ~~Yell at it~~

2) ~~Gratitude~~ [Dragons are NEVER grateful]

3) ~~Fear~~ [Works but I can't do it]

4) ~~Greed~~

5) Vanity. Possible.

6) Revenge? Worth a try.

7) Jokes and Riddle talk? <- only if I'm desperate!

In the end, the combination of 'Revenge' and 'Jokes and Riddle talk' gets Toothless to obey Hiccups commands.

Step Three to becoming a Hairy Hooligan: pass Initiation. Everything was seeming to go well until Toothless picked a fight with Fireworm, Snotlout's dragon, causing one of the biggest training dragon fights to be seen in the Hairy Hooligan tribe. It was also the first time a chief has had to exile all the initiates, including his own son. Thankfully, a horrible storm gave the boys one more night in their homes.

The storm awakened a couple of very ancient, very hungry, dragons. Stoick the Vast, not knowing what to do, gathered both his own tribe, and the visiting tribe, to attempt to order the dragons off the land and back in the ocean. Unfortunately, just yelling would not get the dangerous beasts off of the land. It takes the bravery of the exiled initiates, and the clever mind of Hiccup to rid Hairy Hooligan of the dragons.

In retrospect, that was how Hiccup and Toothless became the heroes of the story. In a way, How To Train Your Dragon, could be counted as a modern day epic. A very humorous epic at that. Even though it is a children's book (AR for elementary and early middle school age children), adults could read them too, and still enjoy them.