a battleaxe through your chest! Kate, Eddie, and Angus are dazzled by pictures of Viking warriors’ deadly axes and blingy swords in their library books. But when they’re transported back in time to Scandinavia in 991 CE, they must figure out if they have what it takes to become Vikings themselves. A big, burly Viking called Bjorn initiates the kids in the ways of wielding a battle ax, plundering and looting, and soon they learn all sorts of other tricks as well, including how to get shipshape and navigate the seven seas with just a stone, how to recite rude poems, and how to scare enemies into submission before a battle even begins. Hervor, the haunted shield-maiden, is also on hand to share her tips on how to take off with a handsome ransom and how to make it into Valhalla in the afterlife. Based on the bestselling Viking by historian John Haywood, So you want to be a Viking? features the field's latest scholarship, complemented by the zany illustrations of Japanese cartoonist Takayo Akiyama. The result is a book that brings to life the experience of being a Viking in 991 ce - from learning to steer a longship to cleaning one's spear after a particularly bloody battle - through a crew of likeable (as well as highly disagreeable) characters.