Finn wants to be a Viking warrior, and seek adventure and glory in far-off lands, not become chieftan of a farming village like his father. But then, when his father has been summoned away to another island, Finn is left in charge, and danger strikes. With the village under siege and only Finn and his friends to protect it, can he save the day and learn what it really means to have the blood of a Viking? Book Dark Blue Age range :- 7-9 years

The Viking reputation is one of bloodthirsty seafaring warriors, repeatedly plundering the British Isles and the North Atlantic throughout the early Middle Ages. Yet Vikings were also traders, settlers, and farmers, with a complex artistic and linguistic culture, whose expansion overseas led them to cross the Atlantic for the first time in European history. Highlighting the latest archaeological evidence, Julian Richards reveals the whole Viking world: their history, their culture, and their legacy of overseas expansion for trade, colonization, and plunder. Viking identity is explored through what we have learned about their towns, art, shipbuilding, and religious rituals. Here the Viking story is brought up to the present, from the tales of adventure found in medieval Icelandic sagas, to their exploitation as a symbol of nationalism in the nineteenth century by Wagner, and later by Hitler and the Nazi party. The author also highlights their impact and influence on the history and people of Northern Europe. Vikings, a fascinating new look at a people and culture that have been reinvented throughout history, will take readers closer to discovering who they really were.

A major reassessment of the vikings and their legacy\nThe Vikings maintain their grip on our imagination, but their image is too often distorted by myth. It is true that they pillaged, looted, and enslaved. But they also settled peacefully and traveled far from their homelands in swift and sturdy ships to explore. The Age of the Vikings tells the full story of this exciting period in history. Drawing on a wealth of written, visual, and archaeological evidence, Anders Winroth captures the innovation and pure daring of the Vikings without glossing over their destructive heritage. He not only explains the Viking attacks, but also looks at Viking endeavors in commerce, politics, discovery, and colonization, and reveals how Viking arts, literature, and religious thought evolved in ways unequaled in the rest of Europe. The Age of the Vikings sheds new light on the complex society, culture, and legacy of these legendary seafarers.

Vulgar can't believe his luck. He's going on a school trip in a real, live longboat, with oars and everything! And they're going to visit Burp, where a long-ago battle once took place between the Vikings and the, er, Burpers. It was a mighty battle, which the Vikings totally lost. But this time, Vulgar's going to re-write history. He's up for a bit of historical re-enactment, and is sure, one way or another, that a great and noble victory will be his!

This book explores 11 popular misconceptions about the Vikings. Each chapter looks at a particular misconception, examines how it became popular, discusses what we now believe to be the truth, and provides excerpts from primary source documents.\nWhen people think of the Vikings, they often envision marauding barbarians who lived violent lives. While a number of mistaken beliefs about the Vikings have become engrained in popular culture, they are not grounded in historical facts. This book examines popular misconceptions related to the Vikings and the historical truths that contradict the fictions.\nThe book discusses 11 mistaken notions about the Vikings, with each fiction treated in its own chapter. Topics include whether the Vikings wore horned helmets, whether they were unhygienic, whether they had primitive weapons, whether they drank out of skull cups, and more. Each chapter examines how the misconception proliferated and discusses what we now believe to be the facts contradicting the fictions. Excerpts from primary source documents help readers to understand how the misconceptions came to be throughout history and provide evidence for the historical truths.\n• Examines popular misconceptions about the Vikings\n• Discusses how misconceptions became popular, providing historical truths contradicting the fictions\n• Provides excerpts from primary source documents to help readers to understand the transmission of the fictions and to provide evidence for the historical truths\n• Directs readers to additional print and electronic resources on the Vikings in suggestions for further reading

VULGAR THINKS MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S EVE IS THE BEST VIKING FESTIVAL OF ALL! There'll be a massive bonfire, and everyone will sing songs about excellent longboats and enormous battles, then eat and drink until their stomachs explode! So what's with the tiny pile of firewood? And the maypole he's told to dance around? With Freya! NO WAY. Vulgar vows to make this Midsummer's Eve a night Blubber will remember for ever. It's going to be a SCREAM...

An informative introduction to Viking history that also provides an impressive collection of artifacts and new insights on the Norse people. \nThe culture of the Viking world speaks of both violence and of beauty. This extensively illustrated volume brings together nearly 200 carefully chosen artifacts that reflect the art and daily life of Viking-Age Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes both iconic items and finds from recent excavations, providing a visual guide to the early-medieval Scandinavian world.\nHighlights include Norway’s famous ship burials, the only complete example of a Viking helmet, and the treasures looted from the monasteries of Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe. Equally important are the less familiar fragments of everyday life: a brooch, a woolen sock, even a loaf of bread. The juxtaposition of the outstanding and the everyday makes this volume unique in its field. Featuring sumptuous close-up photographs to best showcase its comprehensive collection of exquisite artifacts, Pocket Museum: Vikings is an informative introduction for newcomers to Viking history that also provides new insights for those familiar with the subject. c. 230 illustrations

Vulgar decides to carry out his own Viking raid: a voyage across the fishpond to plunder the bake-house. But as he and Knut sneak into the cellar to build their longship, they're caught by Freya, who demands to join the crew. Crammed into their makeshift vessel, along with Grunt the dog, the trio struggle across the pond and successfully make off with a haul of rock cakes. But when a squabble breaks out on the return journey, the trio end up in the pond, and Vulgar finds himself in very hot water.

In the ninth century, Vikings carried out raids on the Christian north and Muslim south of the Iberian peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal), going on to attack North Africa, southern Francia and Italy and perhaps sailing as far as Byzantium. A century later, Vikings killed a bishop of Santiago de Compostela and harried the coasts of al-Andalus. Most of the raids after this date were small in scale, but several heroes of the Old Norse sagas were said to have raided in the peninsula.These Vikings have been only a footnote to the history of the Viking Age. Many stories about their activities survive only in elaborate versions written centuries after the event, and in Arabic. This book reconsiders the Arabic material as part of a dossier that also includes Latin chronicles and charters as well as archaeological and place-name evidence. Arabic authors and their Latin contemporaries remembered Vikings in Iberia in surprisingly similar ways. How they did so sheds light on contemporary responses to Vikings throughout the medieval world.

There have been many books about the Vikings, but few that see them from their own point of view. Most accounts rely heavily on the records of prejudiced observers (who saw the Vikings only as savage raiders) or the archaeological record, which tells us much about their material culture but little about their values. This classic book reveals how the Vikings saw themselves: portrayed in their own writings or in the reports of people who knew them closely. Using a series of translations from primary sources including runic inscriptions, literary works, rare historical accounts and eye-witness reports, this book brings the Viking world to life.

It's the end of summer and Vulgar is miserable. He has to go back to school, and school is one of the most un-Viking inventions ever. However, his gloom turns to excitement when he discovers that the famous Viking hunter, explorer and survival expert, Otto the Bone-Cruncher, has joined the school to teach hunting. Vulgar can't wait to get out into the wild! But, having been dragged into the high mountains above Blubber, Vulgar, Freya and Knut are forced to sleep on rocks, wash in freezing streams and eat raw slugs. Vulgar is also sure a Troll is following them! Life as a hunter isn't quite what Vulgar expected and suddenly school looks quite cool.

Five hundred years before Columbus, a Viking woman named Gudrid sailed off the edge of the known world. She landed in the New World and lived there for three years, giving birth to a baby before sailing home. Or so the Icelandic sagas say. Even after archaeologists found a Viking longhouse in Newfoundland, no one believed that the details of Gudrid’s story were true. Then, in 2001, a team of scientists discovered what may have been this pioneering woman’s last house, buried under a hay field in Iceland, just where the sagas suggested it could be. Joining scientists experimenting with cutting-edge technology and the latest archaeological techniques, and tracing Gudrid’s steps on land and in the sagas, Nancy Marie Brown reconstructs a life that spanned—and expanded—the bounds of the then-known world. She also sheds new light on the society that gave rise to a woman even more extraordinary than legend has painted her and illuminates the reasons for its collapse. \n

Marauders or explorers? Raiders or Traders? We think we know who the Vikings were, but do we really? A thousand years after their demise, traces of Viking civilisation can be found as far apart as North America and the Middle East. They traded walruses with Inuits and sold slaves in Constantinople. They discovered America, settled in Newfoundland and fought battles in Central Asia. Arranged thematically, Vikings is a comprehensive history of Norse life, from religion to raiding, from exploration to settlement and legacy. Illustrated with more than 200 colour and black and white photographs and maps, Vikings is an exciting history of a people who have long held a place in the popular imagination.

An exhilarating introduction to the vivid, violent, boisterous world of the Norse myths and their cultural legacy―from Tolkien to Game of Thrones\nThe Norse Myths presents the infamous Viking gods, from the mighty Asyr, led by Ó?inn, and the mysterious Vanir, to Thor and the mythological cosmos they inhabit. Passages translated from Old Norse bring this legendary world to life, from the myths of creation to ragnarök, the prophesied end of the world at the hands of Loki’s army of monsters and giants, and everything that comes in between: the long and problematic relationship between the gods and the giants, the (mis)adventures of human heroes and heroines, with their family feuds, revenges, marriages, and murders; and the interaction between the gods and mortals.\nPhotographs and drawings show a range of Norse sites, objects, and characters, from Viking ship burials to dragons on runestones. Dr. Carolyne Larrington describes the Norse myths’ origins in pre-Christian Scandinavia and Iceland, and their survival in archaeological artifacts and written sources, from Old Norse sagas and poems to the less-approving accounts of medieval Christian writers. She traces their influences into the work of Wagner, William Morris, and J. R. R. Tolkien, and even Game of Thrones in the resurrection of the Fimbulvetr, or “Mighty Winter." 100+ duotone illustrations

After falling overboard from his longboat, Sigurd the Viking finds himself in modern-day Flotby - a small English seaside town. Finding refuge in the aptly named Viking Hotel, Siggy's attempts to embrace modern ways end in disaster. His attempt at romance is no better off as even the course of true love doesn't run smoothly when Siggy's involved!

'My words were drowned as suddenly the world seemed to be split apart by a huge yell that roared in the air. The Viking war-cry!'It's 867, and young Aldwyn and his family have heard rumours that the terrifying Viking army are heading for York. Can they protect their home and escape in time?Jump into a gripping first-person adventure about life in the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, as they prepare to defend themselves against the brutal Vikings.I Was There...is a perfect introduction for younger readers into stories from the past, allowing children to imagine that they were really there. I Was There...Viking Invasion is an exciting account of a young boy helping to defend his village against fearsome Viking invaders. Brilliantly reimagined, readers aged 7+ will love this vivid first-hand account of a child's experience of the Vikings.

Meet the Vikings and enter their enchanting world full of warriors and battles, heroes and heroines, Berserkers, monsters and zombies, and of course, lots of magic. Illustrated throughout, these eleven amazing stories bring the Viking Sagas, tales they themselves told, to vivid life. A fantastic introduction to Viking mythology, these illustrated tales will have children captivated.

Odd's luck has been bad so far. He lost his father on a Viking expedition, his foot was crushed beneath a tree, and the winter seems to be going on for ever. But when Odd flees to the woods and releases a trapped bear, his luck begins to change. The eagle, bear and fox he encounters reveal they're actually Norse gods, trapped in animal form by the evil frost giants who have conquered Asgard, the city of the gods...Can a twelve-year-old boy reclaim Thor's hammer, outwit the frost giants and release the gods? With Neil Gaiman's wit and style, this story transcends the everyday and becomes a humorous, rich and layered tale of a life lived courageously.

Determined to avoid bedtime, Viking twins Hack and Whack set off marauding around the village, waking up their playmates to join the rumpus and finally hiding under a longboat in an audacious, and ultimately futile, attempt to outsmart their mother. Age 3+

Long-recognized master of Norse mythology Kevin Crossley-Holland pairs with award-winning artist Jeffrey Alan Love for an exceptional look at the Viking gods.A collaboration by two talented creators provides the perfect means to delve into Norse mythology and pore over the enthralling exploits of all-powerful Odin; mighty Thor and his hammer, Mjolnir; and Loki, the infamous trickster. From the creation of the nine worlds to the final battle of Ragnarok, Carnegie Medal winner Kevin Crossley-Holland details the Viking gods as never before, while Jeffrey Alan Love's lavish illustrations bring the mythic figures to life on the page. Readers will be caught up in the seesawing struggle for power between gods, dwarfs, and giants, punctuated by surprising love matches, thrilling journeys, and dazzling magic. With its well-researched, lyrical prose and its dramatic and powerful artwork, this wonderful gift edition makes the perfect book for both the staunchest fans of mythology and newcomers with no knowledge of Viking folklore.

Imagine a vault so cavernous that it could contain all the world's greatest treasures and relics, from mummified remains of ancient monarchs to glistening swords brandished by legendary warriors. Who could be in charge of such a vault and how did he come into possession of such a unique collection? Who is...Professor Brownstone?

A courageous band of Vikings sets sail in search of the mysterious lands of the West and encounters a host of strange creatures, places, and adventures along the way

Alva rushes through the trees in the dead of night with her sniffer wolf, Fen. Being out alone when there's a kidnapper on the loose is reckless, but if she ever wants to be an investigator like her Uncle Magnus, she'll need to be first to the crime scene. But what Alva discovers raises more questions than it answers, drawing her into a dangerous search for truth, and for treasure.