Book #15: Viking Ships at Sunrise

Jack and Annie visit Ireland in the time of the Vikings, for an adventure that takes place on land and at sea!

Find the scintillating trivia for this month's book here: quiz me!

Something that we learned from this book was that the Vikings had their own alphabet...the Runic alphabet or Futhark (say: Foo-thark). This alphabet was a series of symbols which stood for letters, as well as Norse gods, goddesses, or other things. Many people are still interested in these symbols, or Runes, today. Everyone in attendance received a sheet with the Runic symbols written on it and, next to each symbol, the letter and other meanings for which it stood. Since I wrote the symbols in by hand, they are not available here, but print out your own sheet and write in the symbols using the websites cited at the end of the handout.

For this month's craft, we made Viking shields. We did this simply, using paper plates, colored paper, markers and colored pencils, and glue sticks. Our designs were inspired in part by these beautiful pictures of Viking shields, and in part by our own imaginations.

Join us on Wednesday, March 11th, for the next Magic Tree House Book Club, featuring book #16, Hour of the Olympics. Don't forget to register!