But there was always a hint, the tiniest idea that there was something deeper waiting behind this story - and as I moved forward, passed into book seven, Cressida Cowell showed me I was right. When I started, I was holding this series up to what I thought was an impossible standard, expecting something great and profound and beautiful from a bunch of books aimed at ten-year-old boys, full of silly story logic and fart jokes and clueless characters. Hold on- I need a few minutes to collect my thoughts from where they are smashed and scattered on the ground among the fragments of my heart. I don't want to spoil it, but I have never met a more perfect badass. is the most beautiful tragedy.Īnd Valhallarama. It ends with an epilogue about how terrible the present may be because of the choices you made before, but if you hadn't made those choices, you would miss out on the present joy, too, so you have to cheer your past self on. This book literally starts with an author's note apologizing for the fact that it's a story about how much growing up sucks. I would quote the whole book as proof, but it would take too long. If I could give it more than five stars, I would. Though I had There must be poetry, even in Monsters tattooed on my arm, it is only as a stand in for the fact that I could not have Valhallarama's entire scene written there.Ī mark is only a symbol, and symbols can CHANGE.ĮDIT// I'm sorry, but this book is perfect. I wish the whole world would read this book and think about it every piece of it long and hard. A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons (2008)ĮDIT 2// I wish I could make everyone read this book. Cressida lives in Hammersmith with her husband and three children.Ħ. Also the author of picture books, Cressida has won the Nestle Children's Book Prize 2006 and has been shortlisted for many others. A DreamWorks Animation feature film is out in March 2010.

How to Train Your Dragon is now published in over 30 languages. The unique blend of child centred humour and sublime prose made Hiccup an instant hit. Cressida has written and illustrated eight books in the popular Hiccup series.

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. 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. She was convinced that there were dragons living on this island, and has been fascinated by dragons ever since. Cressida Cowell grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland.

How to seize a dragon's jewel