I thought we were done with Vikings. Like Done, finished, ticked the box, time to move onto other sections of History (because let’s be honest a large portion of last year was all about Vikings – Viking Fiction, Vikings in Britain, Norse Mythology – lots of Vikings). But as it often happens I was WRONG! Yip wrong. My son just really enjoys reading about the Vikings, it is one part of History that excites him and if I am really honest they just seem to keep reappearing. Whether it is in History, Geography, stories we are reading the Vikings just don’t seem to be done with us yet. My daughter was just done a very detailed study of 1066 – she looked at all the key characters in detail and one of those figures was a Viking and another was of Viking descent (William the Conqueror), so yes the Vikings are just not going anywhere. So it was a brilliant timing when a new Viking Book arrived for us.

And I must admit this book is actually very cool (yes cool). It is packed full of stunning photographs and drawings – my daughter especially loves the drawings of the famous Viking faces. She has found these fascinating.

And even though we have a few other Viking Books already the facts that have managed to effortlessly include in this book are brilliant – my son is now walking around informing me that we need to a “Family Thing” – what the Vikings called it when they got together to have discussions.

And he loved learning that the metal round knob on their shields was called a “boss”. He loved that.

So what is included in World of Vikings book.

It starts with the Viking world – which includes an excellent timeline and a map showing all the areas the Vikings explored (and yes I will totally admit that even though we have looked at the Vikings in the past we focused on Vikings in Britain and did not realize how far they went – all the way into Russia and Baghdad).

Then Exploring the World – Vikings ships and their exploration of new lands. We also really liked that scattered throughout the book it mentions some of the key characters and another admission we always thought of the Vikings as raiders, which they were, but they were also traders and merchants and I liked that this is pointed out in this section.

Next is Viking Attack. We loved the fact that they explained that “beserkers” were real (if your kids are fans of How to Train Your Dragon books they talk about beserkers in there and we honestly thought that was fiction). And of course more about the weaponry they used.

Then Life in Viking Times. We really liked these few pages as it reinforced a few concepts that we already knew and also explained a number of things which the kids did not actually know. This includes family life, their homes, towns, feasting, crafts (loved that the Vikings played a board game called hneftafl – which made me think of an early chess game).

Lastly Legend and Lore – their beliefs, runes, Viking burial and Harald Hardrada (yes the one who invaded in 1066).

My kids have really enjoyed our new Viking book and I must admit it is a great addition to our History books and I have really been impressed with the combination of amazing pictures and new information it has contained.

Disclosure – we were sent this book by the publishers. We were under no obligation to write about it and all opinions expressed are that of my two readers (aged 8 and 11) and myself.

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