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When the animated How to Train Your Dragon movie first came out in 2010, I leaned right into the dragon joy. I grew up as a dragon book kid, after all. As a freshman in college in 2010, my love of the How to Train Your Dragon movie translated into me listening to the soundtrack by John Powell on repeat during all of my finals studying. I can’t hear those iconic songs like Forbidden Friendship now without also visualizing the cozy basement level of the UConn library.
As my son has gotten older, we’ve fallen deep into the How to Train Your Dragon lore. We’ve seen all three animated movies, every season of Dragons: Race to the Edge, and now we’re working our way through the spin-off series DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms. I’m excited to start reading the How to Train Your Dragon books by Cressida Cowell with my son too, especially after hearing the audiobooks are narrated by the legendary David Tennant.
So what makes How to Train Your Dragon so great? Is it the memorable friendship themes, including the dragon friendships? How about the Vikings setting? Or is it the hilarious fantasy misadventures? I’d say it’s all those things and more. How to Train Your Dragon isn’t just packed with dragons. It’s full of heart, and I hope you’ll fall in love with it as much as I have.
Now that the trailer has dropped for an upcoming live-action How to Train Your Dragon film, I think it’s the perfect time to celebrate this epic series with more great books like How to Train Your Dragon!
Middle Grade Books Like How to Train Your Dragon
Alliana, Girl of Dragons by Julie Abe
This sweet new fantasy by Julie Abe draws inspiration from the Japanese Cinderella story. Plus, it’s set in the world of Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch, which I highly recommend too! Now that she works night and day for her stepfamily at their inn, Alliana has given up on her dreams of seeing the queen in the capital one day. Things take a turn, though, when Alliana meets a nightdragon who she can talk to, along with a young witch who needs her help!
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Volume One by Diana Wynne Jones
As the cover suggests, a dragon does make an appearance in this charming fantasy by Diana Wynne Jones, but I chose it as a How to Train Your Dragon read-alike more so for its entertaining fantasy shenanigans. Like Hiccup trying and failing to impress his dad with his dragon-fighting skills, Christopher and Cat Chant struggle with even simple spells, despite coming from a magically gifted family. The two have nine lives though, so we’ll just have to hope they can keep most of them!
Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott
Like the How to Train Your Dragon series, this delightful middle grade read by Zetta Elliott includes themes of friendship, adventure, and of course, dragons! Jaxon is bummed to spend the day with a lady named Ma, but before long, he’s discovered she’s not his grandma at all. She’s a witch! Ma needs Jaxon’s help safely delivering a few dragons to a magical world, but Jaxon and his friends have to make sure not to let the dragons out of the bag!
The School Between Winter and Fairyland by Heather Fawcett
Heather Fawcett is one of my favorite authors as she writes the fantastic Emily Wilde series, but she also has some fun middle grade fantasies! Like the How to Train Your Dragon series, this epic middle grade novel by Fawcett includes a school setting that revolves around magical creatures. Autumn works as a beastkeeper with her brothers and Gran at the Inglenook School, where magicians train to become beast hunters. As Autumn looks for her missing twin, she teams up with the “Chosen One” magician named Cai who needs her help defeating the notorious Hollow Dragon.
YA & Adult Books Like How to Train Your Dragon
Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey is absolutely the queen of dragon fantasy with her Dragonriders of Pern series. This Harper Hall trilogy is set in McCaffrey’s Pern and follows a teen named Menolly who surprises herself by taming a motley yet endearing gaggle of fire lizards. If you follow along with the trilogy, which I highly recommend you do, you’ll find Menolly’s passion for music sending her to the Harper Hall as an apprentice Harper. There she’ll navigate making new friends and frenemies, all while training her fire lizards, much as Hiccup does at the Berk Dragon Training Academy.
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle
One of the defining features of the How to Train Your Dragon series is the humor blended with the fantasy. This new book by Peter S. Beagle, the author of the classic fantasy The Last Unicorn, promises humor and dragons too, with a protagonist like Hiccup who doesn’t much like bearing the weight of his father’s legacy. Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax, or Robert as he prefers, feels less than pleased to have inherited his father’s role as a dragon catcher. While this book falls into adult fantasy, it’s a sweet and funny adventure that could be enjoyed by younger folks as well.
Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen
Despite dragons in the title of Amber Chen’s new fantasy, you’ll find only a dash of mechanical dragons towards the end of this story. However, just as Hiccup and his friends train together in How to Train Your Dragon, so do the characters in this adventure. Plus, Hiccup proves to be quite the engineer with his blacksmith skills and the prosthetic tail fin he makes for Toothless, and you’ll find those engineering themes in this book too. After the murder of her engineer father, Aihui Ying seeks out answers in the capital. Under the guise of her brother, Ying enters the apprenticeship trial within the Engineers Guild’s and finds a surprising new friend in the eighth prince of the High Command.
Ready to take flight into more books like How to Train Your Dragon? Check out these bookish lists with all of the best How to Train Your Dragon vibes, including Must-Read Dragon Books, Funniest Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, or these Viking Romance Novel Recommendations. Happy reading, dragon riders!
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