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by Neil Gaiman
With Illustrations by Brett Helquist
Summary
In a village in the Ancient Norway there is a boy named Odd, though there is nothing odd about him. His mother loves him, his father is dead, and his step-father is just there. His leg had gotten crushed some time earlier and so his step-father knew that he was of no use to him. So he just accepted him as a person. Then Odd decides to go on a little adventure with only his fathers ax, his crutch, and some food. He decides he wants to go to his father hut which is way out in the woods. When he arrives he makes a nice big fire and dozes off. He is woken up by a rustling at the door and when he opens it he finds a little red fox. The fox seems to want him to follow him. He does and he sees that the fox is leading him to a bear. He helps the bear (because the bears paw was stuck in the tree) and then says for the bear not to eat him. Weirdly, the bear picks him up, puts him on his back and takes him back to the hut he was at. Odd decides to let the animals in and they eat and go to sleep. In his dream, he hears people talking and he wakes up, but there is no on in the room with him except the animals. Then he says to the animals that it must have been them talking. They just look at him puzzled. Then the bear says dumbly, “Animals do not talk.” All of the animals tell then tell him how they can talk, (which I cannot tell you) and they set off on an adventure. It is about the adventure that Odd, a bear, a fox, and an eagle make.
Review
Very cute. I really like how Neil Gaiman describes Odd, that he is small and has a gimpy leg. He is kind of described of as a runt. I also really like how the animals are described. You can picture the animals very clearly. This is not a particularly large book, 117 pages to be exact, but every page has a new twist and turn.
When I first looked at the book I did not think it was going to be any good. Then once I opened it, about two nights ago, I realized how wrong I was. This book is an easy read, I think it is about 3rd or 4th grade level but I am higher than that and I thought that it was pretty good. Hopefully you will too.
Happy Reading!!!!!!
