They Came on Viking Ships – Jackie French

I know it’s Saturday, but Friday came and went. Just pretend it’s Friday while you’re reading this.

I tried medieval history as an undergrad and I just didn’t get it. Medievalists are a special sort of person, they love all things medieval and don’t really care about modern history.I’m the opposite.

But I do like Vikings. A lot.

Blame it on my ancestry. My fair skin and well above average height betray northern European origins. In keeping with my interest in Vikings I really liked this book by Jackie French. French is Australian, and a prolific author. G1 has read several of her books and enjoyed them.

The main characters are a girl, Hekja, and her dog, Snarf. They are captured by Vikings, one of whom is the daughter of Eric the Red. The story follows Hekja life as a Viking slave, which includes some great adventures.

This book has a Christian component to it as the Greenlanders that Hekja is captured by have recently converted to Christianity. The Christianity is syncretistic, the Vikings have merged some of their pre-Christian beliefs with Christianity. This is particularly evident when some one is given a Christian burial service, but is buried with grave goods. This could be used to talk about the spread of early Christianity. In fact the whole book is a really good introduction to Viking life.

Another point about this book is it is a challenging read, but there is nothing in it I wouldn’t want a 10 year old to read. This makes it a great for those children whose reading age is higher than their chronological age.

I think this book would need a reading age of 12+ and could be enjoyed by older children (or adults).  Although the main character is a girl there is plenty of fighting, something Vikings were famous for. Because of this I think boys would enjoy this as well. Both G1 and I really liked this book. We got our copy form the young adults section of the public library.

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