8th May International Viking Day

The Vikings, also called Norseman, were sea warriors coming from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, who raided and colonised many areas of Europe from about the ninth to the eleventh century.

The Viking Age began in the year of 793 with an attack on the Lindisfarne monastery in England, which is the first known Viking raid. The event that marks the end of their glory days is the slaying of King Harald Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.

Leif Eriksson is the most famous Viking of all time. The reason for this is that he led the expedition that discovered North America. His voyage made him and his crew the first Europeans to reach the New World.

Students from a primary school in the UK

In the Northern Hemisphere, people including school children dress up as Vikings, reenact events and immerse themselves in the awesomeness of Vikings. Here in Australian schools, Vikings as a topic does not appear in the curriculum, but the study of the past and ancient civilisations does and many children are fascinated by them. Whenever we do a display, the books are borrowed.

Many of the nonfiction books on Vikings have too much text for the young students that use our school library, but we do have a lot of story books because Vikings make fun characters.

Stand alone stories:

Then there's these series: