Suitabook

Valley of the Vikings

Liz Kessler

Reading: Pause after major confrontations to discuss whose power is being challenged and what consequences follow. If the disaster imagery feels intense, read alongside your child and focus on how characters respond, rather than anticipating the ending.
Themes: Environmental responsibility: Irresponsible mining and conflict between powerful gods threaten the underwater environment and the wider world. Environmental destruction linked to greed is presented as harmful, while protecting the planet is treated as a serious responsibility.
Power and authority: Emily and her friends confront Neptune and Thor, whose struggle for power has upset the balance of the world. Selfish, entrenched rule is challenged, and the author identifies a moment where older rulers are urged to hand over power to a younger generation.
Cooperation across difference: Emily works with human and mer friends, and the group encounters Vikings who have remained on a magical island. The story places cooperation, friendship and respect between seemingly different communities at the centre of solving the crisis.
Worth knowing: The central threat includes destruction of underwater environments, a curse, conflict between gods, a lost Viking ship and crew, towering waves, lightning and a possible large-scale disaster. The emotional intensity of these scenes is not fully clear.