A great beginning fantasy novel. It is the story about a boy coming into manhood. His tribe's ritual is that each boy of the tribe must catch and train a dragon. Hiccup is the son of the chief and therefore everybody expects him to be a leader, and to be big and tough like his father, because he will one day be the chief. Hiccups problem is that he is not big, not overly strong, and certainly not mean. The boys all get their dragons but one of his friends drops his, so hiccup gives him his and goes back to get another. The dragon that he ends up with is tiny and has no teeth. The book that tells how to train a dragon, simply states, yell loud. Hiccup chooses not to be mean and tries to find his own unique way of training his dragon. On the night of the ceremony two giant sleeping dragons wake up and threaten the lives of the entire tribe. Hiccup concocts a plan to get rid of the dangerous dragons and with the help of his friends and his tiny dragon they succeed. This is a great book about finding your own strengths and making the most of them. ( )