Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor and Loki

by Kevin Crossley-Holland, Jeffrey Alan Love (Illustrator)

Overview

Long-recognized master of Norse mythology Kevin Crossley-Holland pairs with award-winning artist Jeffrey Alan Love for an exceptional look at the Viking gods.

A collaboration by two talented creators provides the perfect means to delve into Norse mythology and pore over the enthralling exploits of all-powerful Odin; mighty Thor and his hammer, Mjolnir; and Loki, the infamous trickster. From the creation of the nine worlds to the final battle of Ragnarok, Carnegie Medal winner Kevin Crossley-Holland details the Viking gods as never before, while Jeffrey Alan Love's lavish illustrations bring the mythic figures to life on the page. Readers will be caught up in the seesawing struggle for power between gods, dwarfs, and giants, punctuated by surprising love matches, thrilling journeys, and dazzling magic. With its well-researched, lyrical prose and its dramatic and powerful artwork, this wonderful gift edition makes the perfect book for both the staunchest fans of mythology and newcomers with no knowledge of Viking folklore.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763695002
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/28/2017
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	492,474
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Kevin Crossley-Holland is an award-winning author and well-known poet. The first book of his Arthur trilogy, The Seeing Stone, won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, and his novella Storm won the Carnegie Medal. He lives in England.

Jeffrey Alan Love is an award-winning artist and writer. He is the author-illustrator of Notes from the Shadowed City and the recipient of a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/09/2017
The brutal, mischievous, and fascinating stories of Norse mythology unfold in lively and dramatic retellings, which introduce the gods and goddesses of Asgard, as well as the dwarves and giants of Midgard and Jotunheim. Trickery, betrayals, journeys, and transformations fill these 20 tales, and the panoply of mythological figures loom large in Love’s nightmarish silhouettes—mottled and sharp-edged, they look as though they’ve been carved from rock. A sense of foreboding and old world magic permeates the collection; readers new to these ancient stories may well react as Crossley-Holland did, as he explains in the book’s foreword: “When I first read these stories as a boy, I yelled and laughed and cried a little, and I knew myself a bit better.” Ages 10–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Crossley-Holland’s inspired text is straightforward and largely unadorned in a way that makes it timeless. Meanwhile, Love’s eye-popping expressionist illustrations, rendered in acrylics and ink, decorate almost every page, beautifully creating an often sinister atmosphere that expands the tone of the text. Together words and pictures work to memorable effect, doubtlessly inspiring their young readers to yell and cry. The myths have seldom been better served.
—Booklist (starred review)

The brutal, mischievous, and fascinating stories of Norse mythology unfold in lively and dramatic retellings, which introduce the gods and goddesses of Asgard, as well as the dwarves and giants of Midgard and Jotunheim.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Twenty tales of gods, giants, and dwarfs, of mighty feats and epic trickery...the tales are...powerful in emotional resonance—not to mention chock-full of bold deeds, glittering treasures, and scary monsters. Lavishly illustrated and strongly atmospheric—as well suited for reading aloud as alone.
—Kirkus Reviews

Bold illustrations dominated by dark colors and intimidating shadows accompany each tale in this indispensable collection of Norse myths...Each story begins with a one-sentence summary of the myth’s message, providing a useful tool for engaging students in lessons about summarizing. This is an essential purchase for middle and high school collections.
—School Library Connection

Brute power seems to emanate from the pages of ‘Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor, and Loki’ (Candlewick Studio, 225 pages, $27.99), a collection of Viking stories retold with vigor and dash by Kevin Crossley-Holland. Jeffrey Alan Love’s stunning illustrations here are so potent and menacing that they seem less to have been created with acrylic and ink than to have been hammered from iron.
—The Wall Street Journal

This stunning volume, heavily illustrated with somewhat gruesome, predominantly black acrylic and ink paintings in block print and silhouette style, provides an excellent introduction to Norse mythology. A good choice for middle and high school collections.
—School Library Journal

Crossley-Holland’s stunning collection of Norse myths is gold for storytellers, educators, and Norse enthusiasts...This is a must have for storytellers and certainly a valuable classroom resource to begin units on mythology and culture; however you’re using it, make sure students and listeners get a chance to view the gorgeous artwork.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

12/01/2017
Gr 7 Up—A collection of tales of the Norse gods and goddesses through the eyes and ears of Gylfi—a king of Sweden who "knew a great deal more than most men and women because he listened to storytellers and because he was curious and had a good memory." Gylfi searches for more knowledge about the legends by journeying on foot across the rainbow bridge (Bifrost) to Asgard—home to the deities—disguised as a "stumbling, fumbling" tramp called Gangleri. A man juggling "seven glittering knives" leads the king/tramp into Valhalla, where three wise kings on three high seats gladly answer his questions about the 13 gods and 13 goddesses and Viking history. The tales in this volume are somewhat smoother retellings of those in the author's Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings. When Gylfi returns as an old man, the three kings prophesy the end of the Norse world in a great war between good and evil and the beginnings of a new civilization. This stunning volume, heavily illustrated with somewhat gruesome, predominantly black acrylic and ink paintings in block print and silhouette style, provides an excellent introduction to Norse mythology. VERDICT A good choice for middle and high school collections.—Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH

School Library Journal

2017-09-18
Twenty tales of gods, giants, and dwarfs, of mighty feats and epic trickery.Veteran storysmith Crossley-Holland has presented versions of these extracts from the Prose Edda before, but here he recasts them into stately retellings that get extra measures of menace and gloom from the heavy shadows and big, indistinct figures that Love places on nearly every double-columned spread. Opening with tributes to the myths and to Snorri Sturluson, their medieval Icelandic recorder, the author moves on to the stories themselves. He includes such familiar episodes as the building of Asgard's walls, Thor's "wedding," (which, what with its closing massacre, comes off as more grimdark than humorous, as played elsewhere), and the death of Balder within the frame story of the Swedish king Gylfi's sojourns to Valhalla. There he hears from a mysterious, enthroned trio (some of the original source's Christian inflections are left in for observant readers to notice) of Yggdrasil, the nine worlds, and, finally, the deaths of Odin and the rest. The major themes of deceit and violence play louder here than loyalty, justice, or some other positive value, and women (along with Bragi, the "pink cheeked and girlish" god of poetry) are relegated to minor roles. Still, the tales are colored as much by their depictions of courage in the face of certain ultimate doom as by the illustrations and are thus powerful in emotional resonance—not to mention chock-full of bold deeds, glittering treasures, and scary monsters.Lavishly illustrated and strongly atmospheric—as well suited for reading aloud as alone. (schematic of the nine worlds, cast of characters) (Myths. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews