English children's author Cressida Cowell was born on 15 April 1966 in London. She is the daughter of Michael Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham. As a child, Cowell states she "grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland," and that it was during summers spent on the Inner Hebrides where she first began to develop her writing and drawing talents. Cowell attended Keble College, Oxford where she studied English, and she also attended Saint Martin's School of Art and Brighton University where she learned illustration. Cressida finds illustrating her own work satisfying, but she also loves writing books for other people to illustrate. Her picture book That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown, illustrated by Neil Layton, was the winner of the 5 & Under the category of the Nestle Children’s Book Prize 2006. How to Seize a Dragon's Jewel is the tenth book in the series. When we last left Hiccup things were getting very dark indeed. The Dragon Rebellion has begun. Snotlout is the new Chief of the Hooligan Tribe. Stoick has been banished and given the Slavemark. And Alvin the Treacherous has eight of the King's Lost Things and has been proclaimed the new King of the Wilderwest But what can Hiccup do, now all alone and in exile, hunted by both humans and dragons? Can he find the Dragon Jewel, mankind's last and only hope? And if he does, what will he do with it? You can listen online to free English audiobook “How to Seize a Dragon's Jewel” by Cressida Cowell on our website.
