The Boy with the Bronze Axe

by Kathleen Fidler, Edward Mortelmans (Illustrator)

Kathleen Fidler's classic story is set in the ancient Stone Age village of Skara Brae on Orkney. This is a fascinating and vividly portrayed story of life nearly 3,000 years ago. Kali and Brockan are in trouble. They have been using their stone axes to chip limpets off the rocks, but they've gone too far out and find themselves trapped by the tides. Then, an unexpected rescuer appears, a strange boy in a strange boat, carrying a strangely sharp axe of a type they have never seen before. Conflict arises as the village of Skara must decide what to do with the new ideas and practices that the boy brings. As a deadly storm threatens, the very survival of the village is in doubt. Step back into the Stone Age and learn about the daily life and rituals of the ancient village of Skara Brae in this compelling, fictional account of the famous Orkney settlement. Vivid descriptions and accurate historical details bring the village to life and make this an ideal choice for those studying the Stone Age curriculum.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Childrens, Scotland, British Literature, Young Adult

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Born in 1899 in Coalville, Leicestershire, Kathleen Annie Fidler was educated at Wigan Girls' High School, and at St. Mary's College in Bangor, North Wales. She was the headmistress of the Scot Lane Evening Institute from 1924-30, and taught at St. Paul's Girls' School, Wigan, from 1925-30. Fidler married J.H. Goldie in 1930, and had one daughter and one son. She spent most of her married life in the Edinburgh area, and died in 1980.

A prolific author, who penned both children's books and scripts for the BBC, Fidler is perhaps best remembered as the creator of two series, one about the Brydon family, the other about the Deans.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

So yes, I am most definitely saying that with her 1968 Middle Grade novel The Boy With the Bronze Axe, Kathleen Fidler has indeed done a mostly wonderful job textually depicting daily life in the Neolithic, in the Orkney Islands' village of Skara Brae. For most certainly, Fidler's descriptions of Skara Brae, they are all and sundry incredibly, wonderfully rich and nuanced, with delightfully authentic feeling detail, and readers absolutely do get a real and palpable sense of and for the British Stone Age and people's resourcefulness regarding building shelters, food collection, dressing, ornamenting, hunting/farming techniques (and that basically everything was used, that nothing was ever being wasted). But still, those same readers also must absolutely realise and take into consideration that The Boy With the Bronze Axe is set during the prehistory of the British Isles (before the "discovery" and onset of writing and reading) and that there are thus and of course no historical documents available to verify how authentic in reality Kathleen Fidler's descriptions are, that while these do seem to make sense regarding the archaeological evidence discovered at Skara Brae (and elsewhere) almost all of the account featured in The Boy With the Bronze Axe (including the horrible sand storm that threatens and then destroys the village) is still first and foremost primarily textual conjecture and speculation.

But a novel, but any novel, is of course and naturally supposed to be much more than just setting and description. And while the latter is (as already pointed out above) for the most part immensely readable and enjoyable, Kahtleen Fidler's actual storyline for The Boy With the Bronze Axe (of two Skara Brae children meeting a mysterious boy with a bronze axe from Northern Europe and having him provide assistance to the village during a devastating natural disaster), this has not really been all that exciting and reading interest retaining for me (and has ended up being in fact rather annoyingly tedious since Kathleen Fidler's character development in The Boy With the Bronze Axe is basically pretty well non existent in my opinion). For sadly, most of Fidler's presented dialogue in The Boy With the Bronze Axe reads quite stiffly and stiltedly (and the author certainly spends far more of her text on the surroundings, on buildings, food, furniture, clothing and the like than on moving along the plot and developing her characters, and while set-up and surroundings are of course both important and interesting, with Kathleen Fidler concentrating so very much on this in The Boy With the Bronze Axe and kind of at the expense of characterisation and a story that moves along with sufficient tempo and cadence, this most definitely rather has left me a trifle bored, distracted and not really all that engaged and interested in what is happening to any of the novel's featured characters and how The Boy With the Bronze Axe is going to be ending (and this even though I am well aware of the fact that there is a catastrophe coming).

And thus, while I do think that as an outline of the speculated and assumed daily life in the Neolithic village of Skara Brae, The Boy With the Bronze Axe works pretty well, Kathleen Fidler's lack of an interesting and exciting story with characters to care about and find sufficiently intriguing and nuanced, yes for me, the general rating for The Boy with the Bronze Axe is only two stars, and that well, I cannot really consider a higher ranking for a novel that features mostly just a good, even spectacular sense of description.

[Karen Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story focusing on a settlement on a remote Scottish isle.
One day a young boy called Tenko saves a boy and girl from drowning. He is welcomed (by most) into their tribe and he teaches them new skills. In return he is given an honorary place in the tribe.
This is a peaceful community, yet times of great trouble are predicted.
We watch as the community struggle with rivalry, the hostile environment and threats from other tribes.
Throughout, Tenko’s golden axe symbolises the hope for a new way of life and a chance to develop their skills for the future.
This would serve as a good introduction to the time, and certainly introduces some ideas. It’ll be interesting to compare this with more modern reads attempting to tell a similar story.

[Mrs G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would make a good introduction to/supplement for teaching about the Stone Age. Lots of historical info wrapped in a fairly engaging adventure story (inspired by Skara Brae) which captures the imagination. Think I might read it to Y3 as a class novel.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’re looking for something that sets out to recreate daily life in the Neolithic, you could hardly do better. The book is rich in detail, and you get a real sense of Stone Age people's resourcefulness at feeding, dressing, ornamenting, arming, and indulging themselves from the natural world around them (absolutely nothing was wasted!). Hunting and farming techniques are described, and rituals and ceremonies recreated from the existing monuments and artefacts we still have.

But apart from that, character development is basically nil. By the end of the book, I found myself rather sympathising with the couple of designated bad guys who were sick of Tenko the Bronze Age Gary Stu. A lot of the dialogue is stiff and stilted, and some sections - like the blow-by-blow description of floating a tree out of a cave at high water - made my eyes glaze over. I can’t really criticise a book for following the accepted archaeological theories of the time it was written, so I won’t go there, but even then there were still some things that made the head tilt. Even accepting the idea that Orkney at this time was remote and cut-off from mainland Britain, it was hard to buy the idea that the people of Skara could have next to no knowledge of what was going on in the other islands. Some of those straits between them are very narrow indeed, and would have been easily navigable in a small hide boat.

I’d say this is probably a book I would’ve enjoyed much more if I’d actually read it when I was a youngster - only I remember being pretty bored by The Desperate Journey when I read it in primary school, so I think it’s just that Kathleen Fidler and I aren’t a good match!

[Colin MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good because it honestly tries to imagine what ordinary life would be like in a specific place (Skara Brae in Orkney) at a very different time in the past (the Mesolithic), without adding exaggerated drama or fantasy elements. The story and writing are solid and readable, if kinda old-school young adult. It's engaging and dramatic in small ways, nothing epic. It's more a series of episodes in the lives of the characters rather than a single overarching narrative, which makes it feel more real. But it still gives a sense of why that would be an interesting world to live in.

[Chai · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a story, it was not very good. Stilted dialogues, no character development.

But as a possible description of life in Skara Brae, it would make an excellent introduction for children starting to learn about the stone age - an often necessary reminder that while they did not have our technology, in the end they were people just like us.

Reading this while in Orkney and having just seen Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar breathes life landscape surrounding me.
What's interesting to see is the differences in what at the time of this book being written was established knowledge, like the sandstorm covering Skara Brae, and what is known today - that there was most likely no storm, and it is unclear why they left but the sand came later.

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my on-going research for my Stone-age novel, as it was set in Skara Brae, one of the locations I have used. It starts from a very different premise than mine, dealing with the death-throes of the settlement due to changing weather-patterns, which certainly had a hand in the abandonment of the village.
It is excellently written, although it does not steer away from issues of life and death. I was not surprised to learn that the author was brought up in Scotland, was a headmistress and wrote for her own children. Each chapter makes a discrete unit within the broader story, and it would lend itself to be read or read aloud in instalments.
The feel of life in that harsh environment in the junction between the use of stone and bronze tools, was well painted, and a child of 10 or 11 would very much enjoy this book, whether boy or girl.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life on Skara Brae is fun, but hardwork for all. Out foraging for a treat, Kali and her younger brother Brockan are stranded. With little hope of rescue, they are stunned when a boy in a strange boat saves them.
Tenko has run from danger, bringing with him new and different technology - not just the boat, but a bronze axe.
The village seer knows that the villagers' survival will come down to Tenko and his knowledge. But not all like him. And not all listen to him.
This is an adventure story with a difference - one set 3000 years ago.
An interesting read for those into action and / or history stories. For good readers 8 and over.

[Erica Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one picked from my son's shelf, it takes place in ancient Scotland. I bought it for him due to some upcoming travel to the same place. Once I started reading it (this morning) I could not put it down. It was originally written in 1968, so it's an old classic, but was re-released in 2012 or so. Set in the Orkney Islands in Scotland it describes day to day life among the tribal people who lived there in the stone age. I think my son will like it if he give the book a try, and it will make the visits to the archeological sites more interesting, I think., if he can picture the people who used to live in the half underground beehive stone shelters...

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teaching Stone Age next term, I purchased this book on a whim- hoping it would become my whole class reading book. Once I started reading this, I found it challenging to put down. There are many themes that run throughout such as friendship, revenge and 'new ways.' Before reading this book, I hadn't researched the Stone Age yet by the end of the story, I felt I had learnt many things.

I will be reading this book with my class next week!

[Claire Milne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read with my mind year old son and we both really enjoyed it. Lovely story based on Orkney in Skara Brae. Partly due to this book my son wants to visit Orkney. I have visited pre children and felt this book really captured this beautiful Island where you feel like you are walking alongside those who went before.

[Felicity Fields · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite kind of historical fiction - easy to read, fun, yet brings the world to life in a vivid mental picture. I purchased this book after visiting Skara Brae. The site itself is rather desolate, and to preserve the ruins you cannot walk into them or touch them. This book, though entirely fictional, brought life to the settlement as it looked. I truly enjoyed that!

[Barbara Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the descriptions of prehistoric Scotland and the story moved along nicely right until the end. It felt to me that the gender stereotyping sat a little uncomfortably and I wasn't wild about some of the inter character dynamics, but it is a classic and should be judged against its own time rather than with hindsight, I guess.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful - pacey, exciting and set well in the landscape, though the use of modern names for some locations is slightly odd if you know anything about Orkney history - eg the use of Viking names whent he book is set 1000 of years before the Vikings ever arrived in Orkney.

[Kate Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, fictional tale about the neolithic people who lived at Skara Brae on Orkney. You feel like you are living with the people--it is that realistic. And the author makes a good guess about what caused Skara Brae to be covered by sand so long ago. A delightful read.

[Linnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to learn the history of the Orkney Islands.

[Sophia is Reading Today · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent way to learn history and the kids were excited to discover it was about a real place. We googled the Ring of Brodgar and the Orkney Isles afterward.

[غنية · Rating 4 out of 5]

Self note: This was a hard reading and with many difficult vocabularies; there were some punctuation issues too.
I read this book with the intention of learning more about the Stone Age, and I was not disappointed. What is the best way to trick an adult like me into history? Add an engaging story to it! So this is Historical Fiction. Inserting. I learned quite a lot, and now I want to discover all the rest of the prehistoric stone circles.

The story follows Tenko as fate leads him to join a new tribe and learn their way of life, and also teach them his. Tenko with his bronze axe, in this story, is the promise of a bright future.

The story takes place in a village called Skara Brae; it is located on the Bay of Skaill in the largest isle in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland, Great Britain. Skara Brae, the village of stones, is a real heritage that was preserved over the years by natural phenomena that sank it under dunes of sand; it holds evidence of the life of man in the Stone Age.
The houses of Skara Brae are built-in a beehive shape slightly buried below the ground, so when you're outside the roofs, which are made of heather with a hole in the center to let the smoke escape, are at your knee level; the houses' inner walls are strengthened by rocks. Moreover, all the houses are connected with narrow passages. The houses are plain from the inside, a fire pit in the center, and basic furniture. Naturally, all the furniture is made out of stone and includes bed stones laid with heather to sleep on, stone slabs around the hearth to sit on, and stone cabinets to store things. Other tools are clay pots and bones and horns.
The inhabitants of this area were not hunters but herdsmen; they raised cattle of sheep and cows and lived off them (meat and milk). The livestock also provided skins which were turned into garments, sinews used in making ropes and bowstrings, small bones and teeth made into needles and necklaces etc.
Note: There are many ways bowstrings are made around the world, Arabs for instance made them from horsehair.

The book introduced me to some ancient sites of Scotland.
*The 5000-year-old settlement of Skara Brae.
*The Ring of Brodgar is a stone circle located a few miles from the stone houses of Skara Brae.
*The Maeshowe, a sacred tomb. Tenko described it from the outside as "The great green mound was shaped like a cone and rose high above the surrounding plain. Round the mound was a broad ditch, forty-five feet wide and six feet deep. There was a road across it to a doorway closed by a stone slab.”

Other facts I learned are:
*Tenko describes the way the bronze axes are made, "bronze is made out of two substances found among the rocks. They are tin and copper and they show like streaks in the rocks. The tin and copper are melted together in a hot fire and poured into a shape like an axe head hollowed in the sand." The head is then fastened into a handle made either of wood, bones, or horns. I had no idea that deer shed their antlers annually.
*A tree boat is made out of a thick tree trunk; the process involves a little hollowing with knives at first and then fire is used to burn it from inside.
*Oil is obtained from the fat of the whale. "Oil will burn with a flame that will give us light in our dwellings on dark winter nights.”
*Meat is salted and well-preserved for winter. The following passage describes the process: "The women built peat fires in the hollows of the dunes to smoke the pieces of meat, so that they could be rubbed with salt and preserved for a time in stone chambers under the ground.”

[Tej Dhawan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What happened to the people who lived here? Where did they go?” Questions like these are posed at the end of the short movie that welcomes visitors to the Skara Brae visitor center. Tue same questions, asked in the prologue to this book set up the stories perfectly.

The book is written for young readers but held my interest through to the end. This fictional record imagines a life in the months and years leading up to the village’s end and does a good job. It relies heavily on the artifacts found in the homes unearthed by the storm and some of the subsequent stories pieced together by archeologists.

You do have to suspend disbelief as stories occasionally use modern names for places and things, metals and tools. Yet, their sparing use is central to our understanding the story and easily forgiven.

If you’ve been to Skara Brae, this set of short stories is near certain to hold your interest. I enjoyed it a lot

[Claire O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really enjoyable story that successfully imagines the characters in Stone Age Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar on Orkney. I read this to my boys and we really enjoyed it, it gives good insight to the way of life and it is quite gripping in places, especially the really harrowing part when a whale is beached, we were all nearly in tears.

[Alexander Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read aloud for studying ancient Northern Europe

My 8 year son and I enjoyed reading this for our unit study on the Stone Age and ancient Northern Europe. It was very informative with a good plot line, though a bit sad and intense at times.

[Amanda Paterson-Pasma · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has been to Skara Brae, this is a great story set in what some believe to be the time during which people lived there. It's a fairly simplistic story, but full of great details from the era.

[Dafne Flego · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the depiction of prehistoric times on the Orkney Islands certainly felt well-researched and plausible, offering intriguing glimpses into the neolithic man's ingenuity, the book read a bit too young for me.

[Jody Nicholson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was quite good. Will need to change a few words when reading it to my class and will probably leave out the chapter on the whale killing which I found rather distressing.

[Carol Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant young adult book that takes place in Skara Brae during Neolithic Times. I found it fun to read as I have recently visited the site.

[Dixie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids loved this book to the very end. I feel irbid also historically accurate.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I meant to read this before I went to Orkney, but it was just as enlightening (albeit Tenko was a little too perfect) afterwards. I will say that had I been a child, I would have LOVED this book.

[Lynne Melia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this aloud to my Year 3 (7-8 yr olds) who have been learning about the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. They were spellbound. Beautifully written. Loved it.

[Miss Di]

A call

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out I've had a children's book on my TBR for almost a year lol