Viking At School

by Jeremy Strong

Sigurd, the Viking from the tenth century, is still stuck in the twentieth century. He lives with his friends the Ellis family in a seaside hotel and constantly causes chaos. When Tim and Zoe Ellis take him to school with them a series of seriously funny disasters results.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 1998

Reviews

[Isha · Rating 3 out of 5]

34 and just read this for the first time. The story is quite charming and I liked the ending - gives a good message about being true to who you are.

Of course since this is a children's book, vikings are depicted stereotypically and more wholesomely than historically accurate. Enjoyable quick read and would be open to finding a copy of the next book to find out what happens to Sigurd.

I do have to note though that the title seems to be wrong for the story. Most of the plot does not happen in school and educating Sigurd was not a motivator at all to any of the characters.

All in all, 3.0 stars.

[Saxon · Rating 5 out of 5]

We got this out of our school library and I read it to my 7 year old son, who loved it. There are some very funny bits indeed (we particularly laughed at the civilised human beings pronunciation and some of the other Viking mispronunciations) and my son said he’d give it 5 out of 5.

[SusanMJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Viking at School’ by Jeremy Strong would be useful as a book primarily for reluctant early KS2 Historians as part of a topic on Vikings. It could be used as a hook and a way to introduce the notion of Vikings. It could be used as a way for children to improve the story in relation to inserting more so historically relevant facts about Vikings. A task could be done where children write an account of what would happen if they appeared in the times of the Vikings, in the 10th century. At the end of the story it discusses the creation of a Viking village for schools to learn about Vikings. Children could use this suggestion and create their own village and schoolchildren would learn about Vikings. Children could create Viking artefacts in D & T, write nonfiction texts about Vikings, discuss where Vikings originated and what replaced them and immerse themselves into Viking knowledge.
Viking at School is about the appearance of Sigurd the Viking returning to Tim’s home and going to school with him. It is an amusing book full of humorous, everyday language and set in familiar setting for children. Whilst not the most historically accurate, this book is written in a way that is humorous and enjoyable and so a useful resource to embed in the classroom and to encourage reluctant readers to pick up a book and potentially, enjoy reading.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this in mind for using with a Year 3 class for our topic Vikings.
I enjoyed the book. The characters were funny and believable. I know that my children will enjoy reading this as much as I did.
I see this book as a Guided Reading book rather than a in depth literacy book - as I found that it didn't have enough information about Vikings for me.

[Cathal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really Stupid Viking causes all sort of trouble around the viking hotel

[David Blevins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and funny

[Jono McDermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was funny. The beginning was brilliant — had my friend and I laughing for ages. Ending was heart-warming. Bit short. Full of inaccuracies (the horns are only one).

[Celia]

A brill book! About a Viking in modern day school with the kids!
SUPER BOOK!