D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths

Author: Ingri D'Aulaire
Lexile measure: probably over 1000
Language:  Acceptable
Violence:  Warfare, murder, medieval weapons.
Big Kid Mature Topics: ancient Scandanavian mythology, preface contains commentary regarding the Bible and other mythology from a comparative mythology standpoint.  There is also lying, males dressing as females (for the purposes of deception, not for personal identification), practical joking, gods with multiple wives, multiple gods.
Illustrations: color lithographs, nearly every page
Plot:   very complex.


My daughter got to this one before I could stop her.  She liked the pictures, but the story line was sometimes very bothersome to her, especially the males dressing as females.  This is a very fascinating intro to Norse mythology and probably the best out there for kids, but it is violent just by nature of the topic (but not gory--it might say that someone was killed but not go into how things looked when they died) and definitely not for the sensitive child or for the younger child just starting to sort out right from wrong.  My daughter specifically requested that we get this one back from the library, though.

The D'Aulaires have also done Greek Mythology and Trolls.