Birk is a young Viking but he is not interested in the usual Viking pursuits of pillage, fighting and violence. He has a dangerous name but he is afraid of combat. His mother, though, is determined to turn Birk into a fighter so she sends him off with a group of other young Vikings. You can tell a lot about this group by their names.
"Harold the Thump, Griswold Forkbeard, Boyle and Biddulph the Horrible Twins, Athol Hammerfist, Ulric Bloodaxe and Knut the Bully."
The group raid a pretty village but Birk hides in the fields and when the others leave he stays behind. The people in the village lock him in a cage and prepare to burn him but Birk gently befriends the village children. One pretty village girl called Gwenda offers Birk food and kindness. As the day for the burning approaches, the other Vikings return. Can Birk save the day?
Birk the Berserker was first published in 1987 and it was shortlisted by the CBCA in 1988. In 2007 it was reprinted by Scholastic (Omnibus Books). Of course it is now out of print but you might find a copy in a school library. The later edition had a different format and cover.
If you are looking for a book to read aloud to a group of Year One or Two children this book would be a perfect choice. It is a long time since I first read Birk the Berserker but it absolutely did not disappoint. Robin Klein was such a master storyteller.
You may remember I recently talked about a new book about Robin Klein - Letter's from Robin by Jon Appleton. You are sure to know her famous book Thing (and the sequel Thingnapped). One of Robin Klein's other easy chapter books from the 1980s was this one - Birk the Berserker. At that time publishers (Oxford University Press) were producing wonderful easy chapter books for readers aged 7+ larger format with an almost square shape. There were so many I loved to share with library groups including a couple by Robin Klein:
Here are titles in this format by other authors:
No comments:
Post a Comment