Description: Gr. 4-7. Coville takes a Norse poem called the Thrymskvitha and turns it into a delightful prose romp. The story centers on the theft of Mjollnir, the god Thor's magical war hammer, by the giant Thrym. Without the hammer, the gods are vulnerable to an attack from the giants, which means that Thor will do anything to get it back, including cross-dressing as Freya, the goddess of love, and presenting himself to Thrym, disguised as the giant's potential bride. Thor's story is told by Thialfi, Thor's goat boy, who manages to save the day. Coville fleshes out the ancient poem, plucking characters from other Norse myths and weaving them into this story. Throughout, he injects a modern sensibility while keeping the feel of the original myth. Children may want to move from this retelling to broader collections of Norse lore, such as Mary Pope Osborne's Favorite Norse Myths (1996).

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