Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil GaimanIndieBound Description: In this inventive, short, yet perfectly formed novel inspired by traditional Norse mythology, Neil Gaiman takes readers on a wild and magical trip to the land of giants and gods and back.
In a village in ancient Norway lives a boy named Odd, and he's had some very bad luck: His father perished in a Viking expedition; a tree fell on and shattered his leg; the endless freezing winter is making villagers dangerously grumpy.
Out in the forest Odd encounters a bear, a fox, and an eagle—three creatures with a strange story to tell.
Now Odd is forced on a stranger journey than he had imagined—a journey to save Asgard, city of the gods, from the Frost Giants who have invaded it.
It's going to take a very special kind of twelve-year-old boy to outwit the Frost Giants, restore peace to the city of gods, and end the long winter.
Someone cheerful and infuriating and clever . . .
Someone just like Odd .
My Thoughts: While this didn't win big awards like Neil Gaiman's other books, this one ranks as one of my favorites of his work. There is just something so wonderful and unpretentious about this one (not that his other work is pretentious!) that it simply charms me. This is the one I had him sign for me when I met him at the Literary Lights event!