ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS

Odd the Viking boy has run away from home, even though he can barely walk and has to use a crutch.

Alone in the forest, he encounters a bear, a fox and an eagle, each of whom has a strange story to tell. They need Odd’s help to save the city of Asgard from the Frost Giants who have invaded it.

It’s going to take a very special kind of boy to defeat the terrible Frost Giants and rescue the mighty gods. Someone cheerful and infuriating and clever.

Someone just like Odd.

Genre: Children books, Fiction, Fantasy

Age appropriate: 5-12 years’ old

Number of Pages: 144 pages

Date of Publication: October 2010

Author/Illustrator/Publisher:

Neil Gaiman is the author of this book.

The illustrations are from Adam Stower award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books.

Bloomsbury is the publisher of the book.

Rating: 5/5

Review:

Odd and the Frost Giants is a book for children and anyone who just wants to read a great book as Neil Gaiman is a master of mixing real world mythology into exciting well written adventures.

Odd is a young boy who is a bit odd. He leaves home and ends up meeting a bear, a fox and an eagle who turn out to be gods from Asgard who got exiled by The Giant Frost.

This is such a great tale which my boys loved especially my youngest boy as he loves Thor. The book contains some Norse mythology, just the perfect amount to give children a glimpse of what it is and to get to know some of the gods and the way they live. Also having a protagonist with a disability which he actually had to struggle with and overcome was an excellent feature as disability is rarely represented in fiction in general, particularly in a children’s book, and it shows that sometimes we just need enough courage to achieve incredible things.

Neil Gaiman does such a great job on designing and writing perfect personalities for the gods as well as great descriptions of the characters, places and situations.

This book is so well written, it does makes you want to keep reading and finish the story. The language, size and font are prefect for anyone who is practicing their reading skills but also is a great story to read aloud for children. A story full of adventure, magic and humour which everyone will love. The illustrations are simple but beautiful and detailed black and white line drawings which complement the feel of the book really well and they manage to capture the best moments of the story. I absolutely love the cover of our hardback edition.

This week as our home-schooling is starting I will be focusing on this book for practicing reading skills and also to learn some Norse mythology with some art and crafts on the same theme.

Availability: The book is available in all good bookshops