The villagers are portrayed as regular people. Race/Gender/Culture/Economics/Ability: The culture makes a difference here. The book is told from an omnipotent narrator style with an easygoing and pleasant tale to tell.
Odd is portrayed as one who is willing to face what comes and to face it with a smile on his face. The villagers and Odd are portrayed as real people with real hopes, dreams, expectations and, of course, faults. The characters are portrayed as the gods of Norse mythology. The elements are there to be told around a campfire. One might even be tempted to call it a fable or fairy tale. Literary: This book is clearly fantasy along the lines of traditional fantasy. Along the way Odd experiences some changes and proves that he is quite right to bear the name that means Tip of a blade. Soon Odd is on his way with this group to try to drive the Giants out and bring about spring. They have been turned to animals and cast out of Asgard by the Frost Giants who have taken over there. While there he encounters a fox, eagle and bear who turn out to be the gods Loki, Odin and Thor. After putting up with this for a while, Odd decides to head out on his own and sets out for his father’s hut where he stayed when out collecting wood. This winter has been around for longer than normal and the villagers are getting cranky with one another. Even though all the bad things have happened to him, he is still cheerful and smiles all the time, which drives the others in the village crazy.
On top of all this, Odd is a bit, well, odd. His father had been drowned on a Viking raid (he was, as most were, a part time Viking and a full time woodworker), he shattered his leg soon after trying to bring down a tree by himself, and his mother (whom had been taken by his father on one such raid) had remarried another in the village who already had a family and had no time for a crippled stepson. His name means Tip of a blade and it was lucky, but nothing about Odd seemed lucky. Summary: Odd is a young boy in a Norse village. Audience: Ages 8-12 years (Really, it is good for all ages!)
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