When it comes to most middle grade series, I'm out of the loop.  So it was a pleasant surprise to receive How To Ride A Dragon's Storm, the seventh book in the "How To Train Your Dragon" series, in my last box of books from Children's Lit.

Here is the review I submitted:

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III thinks he’s participating in a friendly, intertribal swimming competition. But when Madguts the Murderous is involved in an activity, there’s nothing friendly about it. Old grudges come to light as Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Camicazi bravely enter the freezing water, with mysterious instructions from Old Wrinkly to return in three months, five days, and six hours so they can be the last swimmers to return, thus winning the race. During their adventure, the three mighty little Viking children must battle Polar-Serpents, overcome the Curse of the Wanderers, escape an ancient beast, outwit Norbert the Nutjob, and navigate their way to American (and back!), all in time to return to the beach and save their tribes from the mad plotting of Madguts the Murderous. In this non-stop seventh book in the “How to Train Your Dragon” series, Hiccup and his friends must reach deep within themselves for the courage to face their fears and overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. Author Cressida Cowell brilliantly balances action, humor, pathos, and lunacy as Hiccup careens from bad to worse with each improbable episode illustrated with hilarious drawings. Wisely, she creates stand-alone books that anyone can pick up and read without knowledge of Hiccup’s previous adventures. However, with such raucous fun to be had, even reluctant readers will beg for all the books in the series.

When I told my nephew Noah that I was sending him the book, he wasn't enthused.  "The movie wasn't very good," he said.  We got into a minor discussion about books being better than movies.  But I could tell he wasn't convinced.

So, how do we get kids to read books that are fun in their own right, when the movies are lackluster?  I mean, it's one thing to deal with Harry Potter and how much more information is in the books than the movies can possible contain.  But what do you do when the books are good, but the movies aren't?