Asgard Stories Tales From Norse Mythology (Annotated): Norse Mythology for Kids and Young Adults by Mary H. Foster

Asgard Stories Tales From Norse Mythology (Annotated): Norse Mythology for Kids and Young Adults Reviews

• 
  Jamie Bee

  Re-published Public Domain Work
  
  When I chose this at a book review site, I didn't realize it was actually a work in the public domain. Contemporary publishers can reprint out-of-copyright texts and sell them on places like Amazon so long as they include some original content. This book has a brief foreword explaining a little about Norse mythology—including gods, goddesses, and mythical creatures—as well as a short paragraph about how Norse mythology still enthralls us today as evidenced by things like the Thor movies and the Vikings series. I wish the author went into a little more depth about Norse mythology, as the stories touch upon many aspects of it; the introduction gives the scantest mention of some bigger players and does not mention others at all. I found the stories themselves charming. They were written over 100 years ago, and you could tell the original author was both trying to appeal to children directly in a slightly patronizing way and to teach moral lessons, both very typical of the time. I found the stories and vintage illustrations wonderful, the combination of which merits 5 stars for the original book.
  
  I believe that republished public domain works should only be given a star rating based on what they add to the original, in this case, a foreword and the cover; the original stands on its own. For the foreword and cover (which is definitely sillier than the content of the original), I would rate at 3.5 stars. If the foreword had gone a bit more in-depth, I would have given it more, as I did find the prose engaging and generally well written.
  
  I received a free digital copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.