Viking Tales: A YoungCanLit Book List

On the last Tuesday of January, the largest Viking festival, Up Helly Aa, is held in rural Shetlands.  This festival, known as a fire festival, celebrates the Norse heritage of the Shetland Islands and involves a procession with a full-sized replica of a Viking galley ship, complete with shields and weaponry, that is set ablaze.

Procession at Uyeasound Up Helly Aa

 © Copyright Mike Pennington

What better way to participate in Up Helly Aa from Canada than by immersing oneself in the various fiction and non-fiction that includes elements of Viking history or mythology.  The following thirty-six titles present a varied sampling of such tales from our rich youngCanLit. (And, if you're teacher, these present an excellent way to integrate your social studies lessons with books by Canadians.)



Picture Books

Erik the Viking Sheep
by Elizabeth Creith
Illustrated by Linda Hendry
Scholastic Canada
32 pp.
Ages 2-7
1997

 

My Great-great-great-great-great-grandfather...was a Warrior
by Riccardo Francaviglia
Illustrated by Margherita Sgarlata
Lobster Press
24 pp.
Ages 4-8
2003


Chapter Books

Yikes! Vikings! (Canadian Flyer Adventures #4)
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
83 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007

The Curse of the Viking Grave
by Farley Mowat
McClelland & Stewart
256 pp.
Ages 9+
1987

Out of the Dark
by Welwyn Wilton Katz
Groundwood Books
176 pp.
Ages 11-14
1995

Betrayed: The Legend of Oak Island
by Christopher Dinsdale
Napoleon
292 pp.
Ages 10+
2009

The Dream Carvers
by Joan Clark
Puffin Canada
240 pp.
Ages 11-15
1997

The Face in the Flames (The Adventures of Wordsy & Jessica series)
by David Boyd
Rubicon Publishing
97 pp.
Ages 11 to 14
1989

Catla and the Vikings
by Mary Elizabeth Nelson
Orca Book Publishers
191 pp.
Ages 9-13
2012

Dragon Seer
by Janet McNaughton
HarperCollins
325 pp.
Ages 11-14
2009

Dragon Seer's Gift
by Janet McNaughton
HarperCollins Canada
282 pp.
Ages 10+
2011

The Feathered Cloak (Trilogy of the Tree, Part 1)
by Sean Dixon
Key Porter
143 pp.
Ages 10-13
2007

The Winter Drey (Trilogy of the Tree, Part II)
Sean Dixon
Key Porter Books
221 pp.
Ages 10-12
2009

Draugr (Northern Fright series, Book 1)
by Arthur Slade
Orca Book Publishers
144 pp.
Ages 10-15
1997 
Teachers can download a free study guide for this book from the author's website
 
The Haunting of Drang Island (Northern Fright series, Book 2)
by Arthur G. Slade
Orca Book Publishers
160 pp.
Ages 10-15
1998
A study guide for this book is available from author Arthur Slade's website
 
The Loki Wolf (Northern Fright series, Book 3)
by Arthur Slade
Orca Book Publishers
192 pp.
Ages 10-15
2000 
A study guide for this book is available from Arthur Slade's website 

Kingdom of Trolls (A Middlegate Book)
by Rae Bridgman
Sybertooth
288 pp.
Ages 10-14
2011

Stolen Away
by Christopher Dinsdale
Napoleon
229 pp.
Ages 10-12
2006





Young Adult

Eiriksdottir: A Tale of Dreams and Luck
by Joan Clark
Macmillan
418 pp.
1994

The Fetch (The Runestone Saga, Book I)
by Chris Humphreys
Alfred A. Knopf / Random House of Canada
357 pp.
Ages 13+
2006

Vendetta (The Runestone Saga, Book II)
by Chris Humphreys
Alfred A. Knopf / Random House of Canada
322 pp.
Ages 13+
2007

Possession (The Runestone Saga, Book III)
by Chris Humphreys
Alfred A. Knopf / Random House of Canada
369 pp.
Ages 13+
2008

The Sinclair Saga
by Mark Finnan
Formac
154 pp.
Ages 13+
1999

Under the Mound
by Cynthia Heinrichs
Be Read/Simply Read Books
455 pp.
Ages 11-15
2011

Viking Quest
by Tom Henighan
Dundurn
120 pp.
Ages 12-15
2001

Viking Terror (Book 2)
by Tom Henighan
Dundurn
180 pp.
Ages 12-15
2006







Non-Fiction

Adventures with the Vikings (Good Times Travel Agency)
by Linda Bailey
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Kids Can Press
48 pp.
Ages 8-12
2001

Beowulf
by Welwyn Wilton Katz
Illustrated by Laszlo Gal
Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre
63 pp.
Ages 10+
1999

Cryptic Canada: Unsolved Mysteries from Coast to Coast
by Natalie Hyde
Illustrated by Matt Hammill
Owlkids Books
48 pp.
Ages 9-11
2012

Explorers Who Made It...or Died Trying
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Bill Dickson
Scholastic Canada
155 pp.
Ages 12-14
2011

First Folks and Vile Voyageurs (Hilarious Canadian Histories)
by Claire Mackay
Illustrated by Bill Dickson
Scholastic Canada
169 pp.
Ages 10-13
2001

Life of the Ancient Vikings (Peoples of the Ancient World)
by Hazel Richardson
Crabtree
32 pp.
Ages 9-13
2005

Science Detectives: How Real Scientists Solved Six Real-Life Mysteries
by Editors of Yes Mag
Illustrated by Rose Cowles
Kids Can Press
48 pp.
Ages 8-12
2006

The Vikings (Discovering Canada)
by Robert Livesy
Illustrated by A. G. Smith
Stoddart
90 pp.
1989

Vikings: Dress, Eat, Write, and Play Just Like the Vikings (Hands-On History)
by Fiona Macdonald
Crabtree
32 pp.
Ages 8-11
2008

Catla and the Vikings

Written by Mary Elizabeth Nelson

Orca Book Publishers

pbk: 9781459800571

ebook: 9781459800588

191 pp.

Ages 9-13

2012

Catla is only 13 years of age but she must decide whether she will accept an offer to marry the bossy pedlar, Olav, who cares little for any ideas except his own.  This is the decision she is mulling over while collecting plants on the heath away from her village of Covehithe in Northumbria.  But, after detecting vast smoke from the village, that deliberation is quickly put aside as she runs to Covehithe to observe the village being burned by Vikings, a.k.a Nord-devils, and the villagers being herded towards the goats' pen.  Daughter of the headman, Athelstan, and former warrior Sarah, Catla gathers her courage to seek help in Aigber, the village a day's walk away.

Though she fears goblins, fairies, wolves and barrow ghosts, in addition to getting lost, Catla unknowingly distracts herself by raging against the vicious Nord-devils and by pitying herself for being the one left to help the village.  Luckily, after resting at the standing stones overnight, she chances upon Sven, a young man from Covehithe, returning from York.  Companionably Sven and Catla make their way to Aigber, but not before encountering a group of Norsemen themselves heading to Aigber but by water.

Once Catla and Sven reach Aigber and convince Hugh, the headman, about the veracity of their tale, they help that community prepare to shelter mothers and children in a hill fort while planning to defend and even capture the Norsemen who attack.  Only once Aigber is safe will they move on to rescuing Covehithe from the Vikings.

In the mind-bargaining that often accompanies tragic circumstances, Catla promises herself that she will marry Olav if her family is saved.  But her interactions with Sven and the equitable relationship she witnesses between Hugh and his wife, Edith, suggest that there are men who value the ideas and contributions of women, and Catla is both fascinated and appreciative of these attitudes.  In her efforts to help Covehithe, Catla is empowered to see beyond the attitudes of her father and the customs he acclaims.

Mary Elizabeth Nelson's story of Catla and the Vikings is rich in the essences of 11th century England.  The tangible attributes of the houses' roof thatch, to the beer and drinking horns, and the weaponry and clothing are woven through the text, providing a background of authenticity and lushness to Catla's and Covehithe's stories.  But it's the language of her characters at which Mary Elizabeth Nelson excels.  I don't want to be a gull (i.e., so trusting and naive) but the descriptive names for common objects or events (e.g., "short-shadow meal" for lunch; "Longest Day celebration" for the Summer Equinox) harmonize with the setting of Catla and the Vikings while enhancing the historical account (fictional, of course) of modest communities defeating invasions by their infamous foes.  If Mary Elizabeth Nelson is encouraged to follow up Catla and the Vikings (and there are so many directions she could take that sequel), she will find her stories successfully filling a middle grade niche that doesn't plunge or even cusp into the young adult realm.