Customer Reviews

A Viking Settler (Everyday Life of Series)

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In this short work (25 pages not including the title page, etc.) we get a colorful peek into the life of the Scandinavians in the year AD 950. The book tells the story of Egil, a young lad growing up in the important trading town of Hedeby in Denmark. Each section is two (facing) pages long, complete with very large and colorful illustrations by Gino D'Achille. As the story unfolds, the reader learns about the Viking way of trading, traveling, government, and general life. This is a quite good introduction to life in Viking Scandinavia for the younger reader.

I am a big fan of Giovanni Casselli's "Everyday Life Series". The series teaches history by examining the lives of ordinary people. In this volume, the readers follow the life of a young boy living in Tenth Century Denmark. As the story unfolds, the reader learns about such diverse topics as Viking trading expeditions to Constantinople, blood fueds, burial practices, legal cases and the Viking settlement of York. The "Everyday Life Series" books were published in the 1980's and can be found used for very reasonable prices. This series reminds me just what an effective tool historical fiction can be for teaching history to young children.