Children's Corner: How To Train Your Dragon

Review: This is our 2nd foray into chapter books for night-time reading with our first being Cinderella Smith. This one seems to have gone a bit smoother; aka she didn't lose interest. I'm not sure if it's because she's seen the movie a couple times and already knew the characters or because the drawings in this one were a bit more vivid for a 6 year old.

What I liked about How to Train Your Dragon: The Chapter Book is that it reinforced the messages that I found during the movie: Stay true to yourself and figure things out for yourself. I love Hiccup and his band of other Viking kids. You know he's not like the rest of them who want to slay dragons, he wants to tinker and invent things.

Now, as all adults know dragons are scary and mean and this is what Hiccup is taught throughout his young life. It is only until he hurts a Night Fury that he realizes that things aren't always what they seem. In Toothless, we find a dragon who is just as misunderstood as Hiccup is and they bond. I think this is important for kids (and some adults) to learn and realize, sometimes your best friends are the ones that you think are the least likely to be.

Since the movie is based off of a children's series by Cressida Cowell, I will definitely be investigating those for when she's a bit older and maybe even for her brother as well, but for now I think the chapter book is perfect.

It's also great because as she is getting more comfortable reading out loud, she will chime in with those sight words we have drilled in her head. ;) She is also practicing her "sounding out" of new words.