How to Be a Pirate

Name: How to Be a Pirate
Author: Cressida Cowell
ISBN: 9782203031609

by Cressida Cowell

Ages 7–10 Reading age 8 Novel Set in somewhere magical funnyadventurous

A coffin washes up on the beach containing a very much alive pirate, and Hiccup is sent to find a treasure nobody wants him to reach.

A story about children and magical creatures, funny and adventurous in tone. We would put it with children of 7–10, and at a reading age of about 8 for reading alone.

Worth knowing before you buy

Mild peril

None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.

Part of a series

This is book 2 of the How to Train Your Dragon series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.

Our take on this book

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, the least likely Viking hero on the Isle of Berk, is back — this time a coffin washes ashore containing a sleeping pirate and a map to a lost treasure, and Hiccup's brains rather than brawn are needed to survive what follows. Cressida Cowell's How to Train Your Dragon series (quite different from the films) is narrated in Hiccup's wry, self-deprecating voice, packed with the author's own scratchy drawings, invented Viking lore and a wonderful supporting cast of dragons. It is funny and adventurous, with peril of the comic, swashbuckling sort rather than anything frightening. For an eight- to eleven-year-old it is a hugely enjoyable read — clever, silly and warm, with a hero who wins by thinking — and part of a long, beloved series. It works reasonably alone but rewards readers of the first book, and its blend of laughs, dragons and heart keeps children coming back.