If your child has just torn through Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon (and watched the films), you’ll know how great these books are.
A scrawny Viking boy called Hiccup, a small naughty dragon, big laughs, and a friendship that turns the runt of the village into the hero of it.
So when your 7-9 year old looks up and asks for more, the obvious answer is “read the next one”.
Sometimes that’s exactly right.
But sometimes they want the same kind of vibe but a different dragon to fall for.
So I’ve pulled together some books like How to Train Your Dragon. These are funny, adventurous, big-hearted, and full of dragons you’ll all adore.
They sit alongside the rest of our fantasy books, but these five are the ones I’d hand over first.
And why do books like How to Train Your Dragon get us hooked?
What made Hiccup everyone’s best friend is the secret ingredient to the story.
And here are some other things these books do exceptionally well:
- There’s the bond, a child and a dragon who properly belong to each other.
- There’s the humour, the kind that makes a 7 year old snort.
- And there’s the underdog, the small clever one who isn’t the strongest in the room and wins anyway.
Find a book with those three things and you’re most of the way there.
Some of the picks below are more funny, some are more adventure, one is a real step up.
I’ve flagged which is which so you can match the mood your child’s in.
Five dragon books to read after Hiccup
The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepherd
The Boy Who Grew Dragons
Tomas finds a strange old tree at the bottom of his grandad’s garden and barely gives it a second glance.
Then he takes the odd fruit indoors and a tiny dragon hatches out of it.
It’s a dragonfruit tree, and Flicker is now Tomas’s very own dragon.
The trouble is, dragons are wonderful and completely unpredictable.
Flicker sets fire to the toothbrush and leaves Tomas’s pants dangling off the TV aerial, so Tomas has to learn to look after him fast.
Then more dragonfruits start to appear.
This is the closest match with a mix of a real dragon bond and proper laugh-out-loud chaos.
It’s pitched right at 7, with shortish chapters and Andy Shepherd’s lovely warmth running through it.
Dragon Storm: Tomas and Ironskin by Alastair Chisholm
Dragon Storm – Tomas and Ironskin
Tom never knew dragons were real, until he’s taken to the Guilda training ground for young dragonseers.
Now he and his dragon, Ironskin, have to bond, work out what Ironskin’s power actually is, and train to be heroes together.
Then Ironskin vanishes, and Tom starts to wonder whether he’s a real dragonseer at all.
Can he bring Ironskin back? And do it fast enough to save his kingdom?
If your child loved the idea of being chosen by their own dragon and learning the ropes together, this one’s for them.
It’s a little more adventure-driven than funny, with quests and stakes, and it’s built for newish readers finding their feet in longer stories.
There’s a whole Dragon Storm series too, each book following a different child and their dragon.
The Dragonsitter’s Island by Josh Lacey
The Dragonsitter’s Island
Eddie is dragonsitting again.
This time he’s minding Uncle Morton’s Scottish island as well, and things are decidedly odd.
The local sheep keep vanishing, and Eddie’s sure he’s spotted a mysterious creature lurking in the loch.
Could there be something more than dragons living out there?
It looks like Eddie’s in for a beastly surprise.
The whole thing is told as a string of emails between Eddie and his uncle, which makes it quick, daft and easy to dip into.
It’s the lightest read here and suits a slightly younger or less confident 7 year old, with a string of other Dragonsitter books to race through after.
Sky Dragon: Brave the Storm by Anh Do
Sky Dragon – Brave the Storm
Amber has got used to a strange double life.
She can summon her insect friends and transform into Skydragon the moment trouble appears.
Then her powers just stop working, and she’s plain old Amber again.
With new friends counting on her and an old enemy circling back, she has to find a way to get her powers back before it’s too late.
Anh Do writes in short, fast chapters packed with action and illustrations, so the pages fly.
It reads almost like a comic in places, which is exactly why it goes down so well with this age.
Plenty more Sky Dragon books follow Amber’s adventures.
Dragon Daughter by Liz Flanagan
On the island of Arcosi, dragons and their riders once ruled the skies, but now they’re only stories.
Then Milla, a servant girl, witnesses a murder and ends up caring for the last four dragon eggs.
She has to keep them hidden as tensions rise across the city, all while suspecting that the island’s ruler, Duke Olvar, is not who he claims to be.
Keeping the eggs safe means risking everything she loves.
Dragon Daughter is a touch older and meatier than the others, with a girl at its heart and a proper dragon-egg bond at the centre of the story.
I’d give it to a confident 7-9 year old who wants more plot and a bit more weight.
It’s the natural bridge between these and the step-up below, and it sits nicely beside something like books like Warrior Cats if your child is drawn to animal-fantasy bonds.
Ready for something more advanced
No Such Thing as Dragons by Philip Reeve
No Such Thing as Dragons
Ansel’s new master, Brock, slays dragons for a living.
He claims he’s hunted the monstrous worms right across Christendom and has the scars to back it up.
But Ansel suspects Brock is just a clever trickster in shining armour, because Ansel is certain there’s no such thing as dragons.
So what exactly is the man-eating creature lairing in the crags of Dragon Mountain?
The two of them have to climb the ice face to find out the terrifying truth.
This is the step up.
It’s a standalone, more literary than the rest, with a darker edge and a clever twist of an idea.
I’d save it for a confident 9 year old who’s outgrowing the lighter dragon stories and wants something that asks a bit more of them.
If you’re weighing up where to take a strong reader next, our guide on what to read after Harry Potter picks up that thread.
Or just more Hiccup
Of course, some children don’t want a substitute at all.
They want more Hiccup, more Toothless, more of that exact world.
Good news! There’s loads more to come.
How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale is a cracking later one, with a stolen Fire-Stone, an erupting volcano and a hatch of Exterminator Dragons for Hiccup to deal with.
Cressida Cowell wrote plenty of these, so there’s a whole run of adventures left to work through before you need anything else.
And when you do, you might fancy books like Magic Tree House for more adventure-fantasy at the same age.
More dragons than you can shake a sword at
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