the adventures of hiccup and his friends

this is a quick follow-up to my recent entry (a few days ago) on horrendous hiccup haddock III, the recurring hero of Cressida Cowell's popular book series on Vikings.

after checking things over at Wikipedia, i realized that How to Train Your Dragon is actually the first of a 10-book series (and counting) by this prolific British author (to learn more, you can check out Ms. Cowell's site; she's also the author the Emily Brown series and other books).

These books include:
* Hiccup, the Viking Who Was Seasick
* How to Train Your Dragon
* How to Be a Pirate
* How to Speak Dragonese
* How to Train Your Viking
* How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse
* How to Twist a Dragon's Tale
* A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons
* How to Ride a Dragon's Storm
* How to Break a Dragon's Heart

the hero of this series, Hiccup, continues to find interesting adventures in subsequent books, along with his dragon Toothless and his best friend Fishlegs. Hiccup is a bit unusual for a Viking in that he is more inclined to use his brains than his brawn to solve his problems. He's not really a wimp mind you, he just doesn't believe in the usual rough-and-tumble stuff that every self-respecting Viking berserker seems to delight in. This, of course, does not necessarily endear him to his muscle-bound and brawling peers, but he eventually gets things done.

at any rate, here are a few Dragonese phrases that might come in handy should you ever stumble into a dragon one of these days.

** Nee-ahh crappa inna di hoosus, pishyu.
(No poo-ing inside the house, please)

** Mi Mama no likeit yum-yum on di bum.
(My mother doesn't like to be bitten on the bottom.)

** Pishyu keendlee gobba oot mi freeundlee?
(Please would you be so kind as to spit my friend out?)

** Doit a wummertime.
(Let's try that again.)

have fun reading these gems!

How to Train Your Dragon (book)

i was idling my time away last Sunday (i was waiting for the traffic to clear so i could go home in relative peace), so i stopped at Booksale for a quick browse. after 15 minutes i grew bored and was about to leave when i glanced in a corner and saw this book (How to Train Your Dragon).

it was still in relatively good condition, which was probably why it caught my attention.

it wasn't the type of book i'd normally check out, but for some reason it called to me. i opened a few pages, and much to my surprise i was actually chuckling before i even finished a page. this rarely happens to me, so i jumped a few pages more and was promptly beguiled by several pages of illustrations inside — no they weren't particularly good or even eye-catching. but the clumsily drawn, stick-like figures (bad spelling and all) blended well with the humorous way the story was laid out.

How to Train Your Dragon is presented as a translation (originally in old Norse, according to its playfully imaginative author, Cressida Cowell) of the memoirs of a famous Viking chieftain, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (yes, that's his name) -– specifically on how he progressed from being an undersized but sensible warrior wanna-be to a still-undersized but moderately acceptable Viking hero by training his own undersized, unremarkable and ornery dragon (which he calls Toothless -– go figure).

This book is basically geared for male juveniles but grown-ups with an overdeveloped sense of humor will also appreciate its concept and humor (both slapstick and implied).

with characters endearingly named as Hiccup (son of the chieftain of the Hairy Hooligans), Thuggory (his counterpart in the Meathead tribe), Gobber the Belch, Snotface Snotlout, Dosgbreath the Duhbrain, how can you go wrong? anyway, if you're looking for mindless fun and are fond of Viking culture, How to Train Your Dragon (HTTYD) is right up your alley. enjoy.

NOTE: of course, everybody now knows that this amusing book has already been adapted into film (starring Gerard Butler, Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, etc.) by DreamWorks -- it is one of the top boxoffice earners for 2010 after all. however, there's a world of difference between the movie and book versions of HTTYD. and although i loved the film, i would have to say that the book version has a unique brand of attraction that will probably never translate well into film.