I have been enjoying the idea behind the newish series Terrible True Tales. Each book contains 4 short stories which are young kids historical fiction based on something that did actually happen. They are fun reads for younger kids and great for us home educators who want to weave a bit of learning into reading.

The latest is Terrible True Tales of Vikings.

I would say these books suit 7+ ages, but really it depends on your kiddo. Each story is short, fun and filled with historical facts. After the story there is always an “Afterward” which clearly states what part is fact and then a “You Try” page which has ideas on possible activities which you could do.

So Very Briefly what are the 4 short stories about.

The first one is called The Eye of the Viking God. This one is about a young Saxon girl who was kidnapped, turned into a slave by the Vikings and it deals with her life as a Viking slave and how she managed to escape.

The second is The Battle for the Viking Gold. This deals with the raids on the English monasteries. I must admit I quite enjoyed the characters that were created in this one especially that of the naughty boys, the idea of them pranking the monks really did get me chuckling as I could imagine something like that happening.

The third one was The Sword of the Viking King. This was my favorite story probably because it included King Alfred and dealt with the Saxons fighting the Vikings, so there were lots of extra bits in this story that I found interesting.

The fourth one was The Hand of the Viking Warrior. An interesting account of the Vikings trying to set up farms in America.

I thought all 4 short stories were well written and included lots of every day historical facts. This is the kind of book that my son would have enjoyed when he was younger and it is something that I would have used when we learnt about the Vikings. I would recommend this book.

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