Books for Your Heathen Children

When giving your child a book on heathenry to read, it is always better to read it yourself first.  This will help you decide whether the book is really the sort of book you want your chlid to read.  And it will also make it easier for you to discuss the details of the book with your child. 

It is also a good idea to do a little research on the author of the book prior to buying it for your child.  It could be the author is not someone you would want to support by buying their book, and the author's views might not be something you want to share with your child.

Here are some Children's Books worth checking out...

Children of Odin by Padraic Colum and Illustrated by Willy Pogany - This is a collection of stories or the retelling of stories from our Lore.  The stories are somewhat changed or simplified from what you might find in our Lore, but it is an entertaining book, and the illustrations are beautiful.  http://www.heathengods.com/library/children_of_odin/  (free PDF), http://tinyurl.com/childrenofodin (buy at B&N).

D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths (Hardcover) by Ingri D'Aulaire - This is another collection of retold stories from our Lore.  But nearly every page is illustrated with full color paintings filled with imagination and power.  My kids really enjoyed this one.  This is for kids 4-8, though adults will enjoy it also.  I usually skip the last page of this book when reading to my kids, because the last page suffers from Christian-bias.  http://tinyurl.com/5w3hdth  (buy at Amazon).

D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls (Hardcover) by Ingri d'Aulaire - The format of this book is very similar to D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths, except it has all sorts of fun folklore stories about Trolls and such.  For kids 4-8.  http://tinyurl.com/68ex4aa  (buy at Amazon).

The Adventures of Thor the Thunder God (Hardcover) by Lise Lunge-Larsen - This book is also beautifully illustrated with full-color paintings.  This is listed for ages 9-12.  http://tinyurl.com/4ec6zhd (buy at Amazon).

Odd and the Frost Giants (Hardcover) by Neil Gaiman - A wonderful story of a boy named Odd traveling with Odin, Loki, and Thor and helping to foil a dastardly plot by a giant to take and keep Asgard.  http://tinyurl.com/oddandthefrostgiants (buy at Amazon).

Kinder Edda (Paperback) by Noil Skeggold - A collection of stories based upon the Poetic and Prose Edda of Norse Mythology, with the addition of unique stories. This is also illustrated and is for ages 9-12.  http://tinyurl.com/4zcnwde (buy at Amazon).

Kindertales: Stories Old and New for the Children of the Folk (Paperback) by Freydis Heimdallson - http://tinyurl.com/4kanor8 (buy at Amazon).

Iduna and the Magic Apples by Gal Laszlo - You'll likely have to buy a used copy of this book.  http://tinyurl.com/4b9sxez

Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Norse (Hardcover) by Leonard Everett Fisher - There are portraits of 14 of our Gods and Goddesses in this book, with descriptions of who they are and what they do.  http://tinyurl.com/5wcj547 (buy at Amazon).

Dover Publications makes a coloring book about the Norse Gods and Goddesses. They also give a very brief explanation, but it's obviously "G" rated. Dover publications also has other coloring books, like "Story of the Vikings," "Beowulf," and "Viking Gods and Heroes."

And there are books at this link worth checking out: 

http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/kidbooks.shtml

And there are quite a few free storybooks available as PDF's at our on-line Temple Library:

http://heathengods.com/temple/modules/library/

If there are any books you think should be included on this list, feel free to share the information in the comments section...

Mark Ludwig Stinson

Jotun's Bane Kindred

Temple of Our Heathen Gods

http://heathengods.com/