About the Author:
Cressida Cowell grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland. She was convinced that there were dragons living on this island, and has been fascinated by dragons ever since. She has a BA in English Literature from Oxford University, a BA in Graphic Design from St Martin's and an MA in Narrative Illustration from Brighton. Cressida loves illustrating her own work, but also loves writing books for other people to illustrate as the end result can be so unexpected and inspiring. Cressida has written and illustrated eleven books in the popular Hiccup series. The unique blend of child-centred humour and sublime prose made Hiccup an instant hit and the series is now published in over 30 languages. How to Train Your Dragon is now a major DreamWorks Animation feature film series: the first film received both Oscar and BAFTA nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score; and a sequel is released in summer 2014. An animated series, Riders of Berk, launched on the Cartoon Network in 2012.Also the author of picture books, Cressida has won the Nestle Children's Book Prize 2006 and has been shortlisted for many others. She is an Ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and The Reading Agency, and a founder patron of the Children's Media Foundation. Cressida lives in Hammersmith with her husband and three children. Check out Cressida's Hiccup website: www.howtotrainyourdragonbooks.com
From School Library Journal:
Grade 3-5–The misfit hero of How to Be a Pirate (Little, Brown, 2005) returns in another Viking tall tale. Chief's son Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, his friend Fishlegs, and his cranky dragon, Toothless, get separated from their class during Boarding-An-Enemy-Ship practice. The peaceful fishing boat they are supposed to attack turns out to be a prowling Roman galley, crewed by some of the Empire's least-distinguished legions. The invaders are plotting to provoke war among the Viking factions by kidnapping the heirs of Hiccup's own Happy Hooligans and the Amazonian Bog-Burglar tribe. Then, while the locals are occupied, the Romans plan to make off with the entire dragon population of the islands. With the help of Bog-Burglar girl warrior Camicazi and the bumblebee-sized dragon Ziggerastica, the boys must find a way to counter the treacherous plan before they all end up facing combat to the death in the local arena. There is a lot of raucous humor and mock-heroic dialogue; ridiculous names add to the fun. The theme of brains over brawn is well defined. Warriors, Roman and Viking alike, are loud-mouthed, bullying braggarts, easy targets for clever, scrawny Hiccup. The sketchy, childlike black-and-white cartoon drawings are amusing but occasionally indistinct. Jon Scieszka's Time Warp Trio books (Viking), for slightly younger readers, have a sharper, more literate sense of twisted history, but the broad humor of Hiccup's misadventures will appeal to reluctant readers.–Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL
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