Review by Booklist Review
In this handsome anthology, Scottish writer and oral storyteller Don offers her versions of 11 tales found in Viking sagas. She adapts them, as she says, to make sense in my voice and for young audiences. The result is a varied, lively collection of stories with heroes, beasts, and battles to the death, but with some unexpected elements as well. The Berserker's Baby introduces a reluctant berserker who trades his fearsome talent for fatherhood. In The Swan Warrior, a woman shape-shifts into a swan to protect her beloved in battle. Grettir the Strong earns his name by beheading Glam the zombie. And the final selection, Odin's Riddles, features a battle of wits in which Odin wears out his welcome in King Heidrek's hall. The artwork energetic ink drawings with digitally added colors and textures show up beautifully on the large, glossy pages. In the very readable back matter, Don comments on her approach, her sources, and the changes made in each tale. An inviting collection of stories for reading or telling.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The team behind 2014's Breaking the Spell, which collected Scottish tales, returns to dramatize stories mined from the Viking sagas, with Don adapting the language for a modern readership. Heroes, dragons, warriors, gods, ghosts, and monsters populate the 11 stories, which frequently use subtle, deadpan humor. "Bodvar was a hero. He knew he was a hero because he had a hero's sword," begins "The Boy in the Bones," in which Bodvar uses a bit of trickery to help a fearful boy become a brave warrior. Don is clear about the Vikings' warlike tendencies ("the Vikings' violent reputation is probably entirely deserved," she notes in her introduction), but James's scribbly cartoons show the softer sides of dragon slaying, sword wielding, and battle waging, mirroring the tongue-in-cheek tone of these retellings. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3 Up-Scottish writer and storyteller Don relates 11 tales of Viking warriors-many of them a bit gruesome-that she has adapted to eliminate much of the violence and make them more palatable to young audiences. The author states in her introduction that the Vikings "celebrate violence in most of the stories they told about themselves and the ancestors they admired." In "The Swan Warrior," a young warrior following his king into battle promises his love (a sorceress) that after this last battle they can settle down together. She becomes a swan, protecting him with her song through what becomes the final battle for both of them. In "Tusker Versus the Earl," the Viking earl of Orkney invades Scotland, but Tusker, a great and honest Scottish warrior from Moray, holds the earl's troops at the border, only to be murdered and beheaded when the Viking men don't observe their own truce. James's digitally colored pen-and-ink cartoon artwork captures scenes of Viking warriors, animals, and other characters from the pieces. Many selections include a full-page illustration. A four-page listing of sources for each entry also notes changes made by Don in her retellings. VERDICT These accessible, well-told offerings introduce a civilization of great warriors. For those who enjoy tales without happy endings.-Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Heroes, monsters, gods, and kings collide in 11 tales retold from ancient sources by a Scottish storyteller.Battles and slaughter feature in most (though not all) of these exploits. Don opens with the tale of how Fafnir, transformed into a dragon by greed, is killed and closes with a riddle contest in which Odin himself is sent packing. In between, she tells of a warrior who accidently kills his shape-changing lady and protector; the death of the explorer Thorvald, brother of Leif Eiriksson, in what would come to be called North America; and a weary berserker who finds an abandoned baby and exchanges violence for sleepless nights of teething, the strains of potty training and the many worries of a father. As she explains in her excellent source notes, she leaves tedious family trees out of her retellings but adds elements to some yarns to suit modern young audiencessuch as a captive polar bear who finds its way home from Denmark and how young Grettir the Strong rids a farm of an undead zombie by leaving its sliced-off head next to its buttocks, to break the power of death. In James cartoon illustrations the shaggy, smiling, light-skinned warriors and other human figures look far from ferocious, and even the monsters are decidedly nonthreatening. An engaging collection, cast in modern but not anachronistic prose and equally suitable for reading aloud or alone. (Folk tales. 8-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
