How to Train Your Dragon is a great series, both film AND book! If you love the series, you're gonna want to read these fantastic facts about its creator, British author Cressida Cowell! There are some here that might just surprisse you - so get reading! Don't forget to check out more of our fabulous book facts and quizzes when you're done - why not learn all about Beatrix Potter? Or see our list of books that changed the world?

1. She's Honourable!

Cressida's dad was a Viscount, which means his children all have the title The Honourable. Her dad was an enivornmentalist, and he was the chairman of Kew Gardens and Council Chairman of the RSPB. Cressida is the middle child, and she has an older brother and a younger sister! As a child, she day-dreamed a lot and was nicknamed "Messy Cressy"!

2. She grew up on an island

Cressida grew up in London, but also spent a lot of time on an island in the Inner Hebrides called Little Colonsay. It's an uninhabited island off the coast of Mull, and Cressida's family owns it. The family built a stone house there, and they used to spend the days fishing for their dinner. The house didn't have any electricity, so they had to use candles to see - and there was no TV! Cressida spent her time drawing and writing - which really paid off!

3. Her childhood inspired her books

If you fell in love with the lush scenery of the How To Train Your Dragon films, good news - it's inspired by real life! The Hebridean islands of Cressida's childhood were very influential on the story, in several ways! Her father used to spend the evenings telling them stories about the Vikings who invaded the islands hundreds of years ago, about the tribes who lived there and fought each other - and about dragons living in the caves on the cliffs. These stories set her imagination to work, and How To Train Your Dragon was the result years later! She also based Hiccup's father Stoick on her father - he was very confident on their boat, but he didn't always know what he was doing!

4. She went to Oxford

Cressida is very studious - she attended Oxford University, where she studied English. She also studied at Saint Martin's School of Art in London, and Brighton University, where she studied illustration.

5. She's an illustrator, too!

That's right - not only is Cressida a talented writer, she's also a great illustrator! She says it takes about a year to finish a book, which includes the illustrations. She works in a shed at the bottom of her garden, where she has a wall of pictures - some are her own illustrations, and others are pictures that her fans have drawn for her!

6. She created a best-selling series

How To Train Your Dragon is one of the most popular childrens' series, ever! There are 12 books in the series, with the first one coming out in 2003, and the final one coming out in 2015. There are also several other books that aren't part of the main series, like How To Train Your Viking, by Toothless the Dragon, which gives us Toothless' perspective on the story! The series has sold 7 million copies worldwide - that's seriously amazing!

7. There's a film, too!

Well, more than one! How To Train Your Dragon was adapted into a film by DreamWorks, who also made Shrek, Madagascar, Megamind, and The Bad Guys! The film came out in 2010, and it was a HUGE hit, spawning two sequels - and there's a live-action reboot in the works! Cressida says that the animated films capture her vision of Hiccup's island very well.

8. Toothless was inspired by cats

Both the book and the film version of Toothless are based on cats, rather than lizards! Toothless is a bit different in the books - he's a small Common-or-Garden dragon who can speak in Dragonese (though he has a stammer). Cressida based his personality on her Burmese cats, Lily and Baloo, who were very mischievous and kept getting into trouble! The film version of Toothless is a large Night Fury dragon who can't talk, and his movements were based on one of the animators' pet cat.

9. She identifies with Hiccup

Cressida says it's hard to pick her favourite character, but she identifies a lot with Hiccup. He's trying to live up to his father's ideas, even though they are very different people. She says they're still different - Hiccup is good at staying cool in a crisis, while she tends to panic!

10. She likes to mix history

The setting of How To Train Your Dragon is a bit of a mish-mash - the islands are based on Scotland, but the characters are Vikings (and also dragons are there). In one of the books, the Vikings meet the Romans, which never happened in real life. Cressida researches real periods of history and gets ideas from them. The ski-chase at the beginning of How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse was based on the fact that Vikings really did use skis to get around during snowy winters!

11. She has some great book recommendations!

All great writers are inspired by other writers, and Cressida is happy to share her favourites! She loved Diana Wynne Jones as a child, and The Ogre Downstairs was her favourite book by her! She also loves David Almond, Lauren Child, Louis Sachar, Eva Ibbotsen and Michelle Paver - and if you've never read anything by these writers, get yourself to the library ASAP!

12. She's written other series, too!

Cressida's talent doesn't stop with the How To Train Your Dragon series! She's also the author of several other bestselling books, including the Emily Brown picture book series, The Tiny Detectives series, and the Wizard of Once books! The Wizard of Once is also inspired by her childhood - the setting is based on the Sussex South Downs, where her grandparents lived.

13. Her husband's name is Simon

That's right - she's married to Simon Cowell! No, not THAT Simon Cowell - this one is the former director of charity Save the Children. They have three kids together, too!

14. She's won some amazing prizes

Cressida's work has earned her a lot of praise over the years! She won the Nestle Children's Book Prize in 2006 for the first Emily Brown book, the 2018 Blue Peter Book Award for The Wizards of Once, and from 2019 to 2022 she was the Children's Laureate! She also has an MBE for services to children's literature - what an honour!

15. She wants to get everyone reading!

As Children's Laureate, Cressida focused on encouraging kids to read more for fun. She made a ten-point charter laying out her plans to encourage reading, which include more new books in libraries and schools, more diverse representation so all kids can see themselves in a book, and to be creative for at least fifteen minutes a week!