Ten top mythical creatures

Cressida Cowell lives in London with her husband, Simon; their children Maisie, Clementine, and Alexander; and two cats, Lily and Baloo. In addition to the How to Train Your Dragon series, she has also written and illustrated picture books including Hiccup, the Viking Who Was Seasick, Little Bo Peep's Library Book, and That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown.

For the Guardian, she named her top ten mythical creatures, including:

Witches: Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline l'Engle

Mrs Whatsit looks like a tramp, was once a star, and can transform herself into a centaur, among other things, so she is no ordinary witch. She is exactly 2,379,152,497 years old, and along with her friends Mrs Who and Mrs Which they are fighting the power of "the Black Thing". She has a fine way with words: "Wild nights are my glory," Mrs Whatsit said. "I just got caught in a down draft and blown off course." "Life is like a sonnet", Mrs Whatsit said. "You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself."

Other great witches: The Grand High Witch from The Witches by Roald Dahl (this bald horror will scare your socks off), The White Witch from the Narnia stories, by CS Lewis, (I'd like to see her in a fight with the Grand High Witch – I'm not sure who'd win) Madam Mim from 'The Sword in the Stone' by TH White.

Read about the other entries on Cowell's list.

A Wrinkle in Time is one of Steve Cole's top ten space books for kids of all ages.

--Marshal Zeringue