Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Facing sneering peers, plus a cave full of vicious young dragons and two mountainous, malign adult ones, brings an ordinary Viking lad around to becoming a "Hero the Hard Way" in this farcical import. Dispatched to capture and train some breed of dragon as a rite of passage into the Hairy Hooligan Tribe, unprepossessing Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III returns not with a mighty Gronkle, or an aptly named Monstrous Nightmare, but a shrimpy creature laughingly dubbed "Toothless"—who also turns out to be about as trainable as a cat, with an attitude to match. But Hiccup and Toothless develop into a doughty team when two humongous, fire-breathing Sea Dragons pull up to shore, looking for the odd village or army to devour. Cowell adds lots of jagged, William Steig–like sketches to a narrative rich in dragon muck, cartoon violence, and characters with names like Snotlout and Dogsbreath the Duhbrain. Her genuinely fierce, intelligent, and scary dragons nearly steal the show, but Hiccup and his diminutive sidekick ultimately come out on top, both displaying a proper hero's mix of quick wit, courage, and loyalty. (Fiction. 10-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this cartoonlike Viking story, Hiccup (heir to the Hairy Hooligan tribe) captures and trains a very small, whiny dragon in order to pass his initiation test. Hiccup's ability to communicate with dragons comes in handy when the tribe is attacked by a pair of giant sea dragons. Featuring characters with names like Badbreath the Gruff and Snotface Snotlout, the silly story is accompanied by the author's crudely drawn illustrations. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This special collector's edition includes two new short stories along with the original first volume of Hiccup and Toothless's friendship. In "How to Train Your Viking" Cowell tells a story from Toothless's perspective, and Vikings band together in "The Day of the Dreader." Cowell's crude black-and-white illustrations demonstrate humor and motion. The book jacket unfolds into a full-color poster. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.