Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky

Title: Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky
Author: Barbara Schiller
Major Themes: Vikings, Exploration
Synopsis: This book is the story of how Eric the Red discovered Greenland and Leif the Lucky discovered North America.

My 9-year-old is studying the Viking era right now, and one of the books I read aloud to him was Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky. I’m not sure how much he got out of it, but I enjoyed it! He has never been much for listening to stories unless they are exceptionally gripping, however.

This rendering of the story of the most famous of the Viking explorers is short, but well-written and well-illustrated with black and white line drawings. It tells the story of how Eric, when he was banished from Iceland, discovered Greenland. He gave it the name he did in order to try to attract other Vikings to come live there! Some did. Many years later, Eric’s son Leif heard the story of another man whose ship had been blown off course, and he sighted another new land. Leif went looking for it and found another new place to live.

I highly recommend Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky to supplement a study of Viking times.

No warnings!