Summary

The novel opens with “A Note from Hiccup.” He says he is writing this story about his childhood because the dragons are disappearing. He has no explanation for why they are disappearing, but he says his story is true. He warns that he was not a natural hero, but he became “a Hero the Hard Way” (13).

Chapter 1 is titled “First Catch Your Dragon.” The novel opens with Hiccup talking about himself. He lives on an island called Berk. He is “a smallish Viking with a longish name” (14). His full name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. His father, Stoick the Vast, is the ruler of the Hairy Hooligans, making Hiccup the tribe's “Hope and Heir” (14). Gobber the Belch is in charge of ten boys who are about to capture their first dragons in preparation for an initiation that will literally decide if...