How to Train Your Dragon: How to Speak Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon (Heroic Misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III))
Grade 3-5–The misfit hero ofHow 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, ILCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.