Gods, Heroes/Vikg Myths

This is an excellent prose collection of myths from the Eddawritten for young people. It is told in a style that hearkens back tothe poetic style of the Norse skalds with its rich descriptive language, yet remains engaging to modern readers. Along with the familiar stories of Thor, Loki, and the rest of the Aesir are a few less-frequently heard tales of Viking mortals like "Trembling Hood" and stories better known from other sources ("Sigurd the dragon-slayer"). The whole collection is told through the framing device of a "King Gylfi" of Sweden, who stumbles into the hall of the gods and hears the tales from Odin himself. The illustrations are beautiful, especially the black and white line drawings with their use of symbols from the myths and Norse culture (annotated at the end of the book). There is a brief pronunciation guide with the index, but no explanation of what the (frequently significant) names mean. My 6th graders, a fairly critical lot, enjoyed this collection a great deal.