Saturday, March 1, 2008

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

oddfrost.jpgWhat can I say? I'm impatient...within an hour of receiving my copy of Odd and the Frost Giants from Amazon UK today I had finished it. At 97 pages, that wasn't very hard to do, but it's 97 pages of pure goodness! I wish it would've been longer, but it's absolutely perfect for young readers. I wish that this book would've been available when I was a kid. It's been released for World Book Day which is March 6th this year. World Book Day is celebrated in Europe and books are sold for 1 pound a piece!! The point is to encourage kids to read and if this book doesn't do it, I don't know what will. Debi wrote a post the other day about reading her little boy The Spiderwick Chronicles and I kept thinking of that post while reading this book. This is just the kind of book that I'd like to read my kid and that I would've liked to have been read when I was a kid. It's also one that us adults will enjoy just as much! It's a Neil Gaiman book, so of course it's excellent. Not to be biased, but the man really can't write a bad book. This book is about a boy named Odd who embarks on a very unexpected journey. He's a boy who has lost his father and has crushed his leg and now has to walk on a crutch. One night while sleeping in his father's old wood working cabin, he awakens to be greeted by a fox, a bear, and an eagle who turn out to be no other than the gods Loki, Thor, and Odin. They have been banished from their kingdom, Asgard, by the Frost Giants and need the help of Odd to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. Like I said, it's a short book and to tell more would give away the book, but it's an awesome book filled with lots of humor, great writing that will educate and entertain kids, and typical Gaiman charm. This is a great little book to tie you over until The Graveyard Book comes out on September 30th...of course, I read it now, so I have nothing to tie me over once again. Unfortunately, it's only out in the UK...so if you want it, it will cost you more than 1 pound if you live in the states...you have to pay lots for shipping like I did! But I'm a completist, so I have to have the ENTIRE Gaiman collection. Glad I have it. In other news, I'm leaving tomorrow morning for my Austin trip, so please forgive me if I'm a stranger in blogland. I'll be back on Wednesday afternoon, so I'll be back to normal posting then! Please continue posting your links though in the previous "favorite books" post for everyone else to read and keep checking the comments for others' posts. I'll update it when I get back. Once again, I'm sorry if I don't respond to comments or if I'm a stranger on blogs for the next few days, but I'll be doing job interviews...I'll catch up on Wednesday though. Wish me luck! Keep your fingers crossed on Monday and Tuesday!!

No comments: