Odd and the Frost Giants

Author: Neil Gaiman

Genre: Myths and Legends

Age Range: 7+

Theme/Subject: Gods, equality, Norse Myth

Publisher: Bloomsbury

ISBN: 9780747595380

Summary:

The winter is ending. Nobody knows why. And Odd has run away from home, even though he can barely walk and has to use a crutch. Out in the forest he encounters a bear, a fox and an eagle – three creatures with a strange story to tell. Now Odd is faced with a stranger journey than he ever imagined. A journey to save Asgard, city of the Norse Gods, from the Frost Giants who have invaded it. It’s going to take a very special kind of boy to defeat the most dangerous of all the frost giants and rescue the mighty gods. Someone cheerful and infuriatingly clever. Someone just like Odd…

Review:

Gaiman’s short story (just shy of 100 pages) was penned for World Book Day. It is a story that an under-confident Year 5 or 6 pupil could handle and enjoy on their own. I have taken pleasure in all of Gaiman’s work thus far; especially the adult Sandman series and the children’s book, Coraline (which I read to my class of Year 6 pupils this year). Gaiman’s natural writing style and his obsession with ‘story’ and its origins comes through very much in all his work.

Odd and the Frost Giants starts off quickly which is good for that reluctant reader. As well as Odd’s own journey, the tale is that of a conflict between the Norse Gods and their enemies the Frost Giants. In it, Odd assists Loki, Thor and Odin and through his wit and cunning, tries to redeem them their city from the icy clutches of the Frost Giants.

The story is written in third person and although each chapter is rather lengthy for such a small book, it flows along at a good pace. Illustrations by Mark Buckingham help to beckon and reward the reader. The story itself is Odd’s. It tells of a fatherless boy who tries to fit into his Viking life with the hindrance of a crippled leg. It shows the reader that it is the mind and our thoughts that makes us who we are.

Although nowhere near one of Gaiman’s best, it is a good tale that would work well as a short class read or as a group reading book. It is a nice introduction to Norse Mythology and for £1, a book that should probably line the shelf of every child.