Well, studying religion this semester, and right now, Old Scandinavian religion, I had to re-read the book "Odd and The Frost Giants" by Neil Gaiman.
It is not a very long book, you read it in a few hours, but you have that Neil Gaiman feeling from the first page to the last.
Odd and The Frost Giants
Plot
The books protagonist is Odd, a (looking at the name, Neil is most probably inspired by the Norse and Norwegian names) boy who lives with his mother in Norway in ancient Scandinavian times.
Odd was crippled as his right leg had been injured, but he still moved away from his mother. In the woods (where he lived in his fathers old woodcutting cabin) he met three animals, a fox, a bear and an eagle. The animals brings Odd on an adventure trough the cold and ice Norway. The creatures turn out to be Tor, Odin and Loki, three of the most famous gods from the Old Scandinavia myths and legends.
Opinion
The book is cute, very suitable for one familiar with Old Scandinavian religious myths and believes. You can see the fun, but still dark and serious side of Neil Gaiman in the book, and it reminds a lot about other books he has written (Anansi Boy, American Gods for example). It is not a genuine "this happened" but it has many elements know, like the gods fights with the giants, nicely woven together with Odds daily life. This is not really uncommon in ancient beliefs with gods associating with humans. You can really see that Gaiman knows very much about this.
Read it if you can! If you are a teacher in religion or something, get your students to read it!
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