Viking Longship

The story of a Viking longship, the men and women who built her, sailed in her and finally were buried in her, runs through the centre of this imaginative and lively portrait of Viking life. Described by the publisher as a ‘fly-on-the wall sketchbook’, this approach allows for many different levels of text and different ‘voices’. Handwritten annotation on the artwork highlights such details as the techniques of boatbuilding or a Viking chief’s armour, as well as snippets of dialogue or Viking mythology. We learn that their boats were made watertight with glue made from pine resin and fat, or that a man washed overboard was thought to have been drowned in the net of the sea demon Ran. We learn too that many Viking place names and words were imported into the language, showing how these fierce invaders eventually lived peacefully alongside their neighbours. Researched ‘on location’ in Scandinavia, Ireland and in the Viking county of Northumberland, as well as the Jorvik Centre, the books brims with detail based on archaeological discoveries. The consultant is the Director of the Jorvik Centre, and it is clear that his input has helped to make the book a first-class resource for pupils and teachers alike.