Libby Romero - National Geographic Readers: Vikings (L2)

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Sincerely,

Mariam Jean Dreher
Professor of Reading Education
University of Maryland, College Park

For Jeff L. R.

Copyright 2018 National Geographic
Partners, LLC

Published by National Geographic Partners, LLC,
Washington, D.C., 20036. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of the whole or any part of the
contents without written permission from the
publisher is prohibited.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and Yellow Border Design
are trademarks of the National Geographic Society,
used under license.

Designed by Yay! Design

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4263-3218-0
Reinforced library binding ISBN:
978-1-4263-3219-7
eISBN: 978-1-4263-3221-0

The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge
the expert content review of this book by Neil Price,
Ph.D., chair of archaeology, Uppsala University,
Uppsala, Sweden, and the literacy review of this
book by Mariam Jean Dreher, professor of reading
education, University of Maryland, College Park.

Authors Note

Vikings are interesting, but they arent the easiest
civilization to study. Artifacts are hard to find. Vikings
built things out of wood and metal. And after a
thousand years, wood rots and most metal rusts
away. In fact, much of what we know about specific
Viking people and events can be traced to Viking
tales. These stories, or sagas, tell about epic battles
and larger-than-life heroes. Fact or fiction, they
provide some of the best clues we have about what it
was really like to be a Viking.

Photo Credits

AL = Alamy Stock Photo; GI = Getty Images;
NG = National Geographic Creative;
SS = Shutterstock
Cover, Fernando G. Baptista/NG; vocab art,
VectorPot/SS; header, Tribalium/SS;1, BMJ/SS; 3,
Asmus Koefoed/SS; 4-5, Sam Kennedy; 5, Granger
.com-All rights reserved; 7, Margaret Salter; 8-9,
George Burba/SS; 8, Louis S. Glanzman/NG; 10 &
11 (UP, LO RT), Sisse Brimberg/NG; 11 (LO LE), CM
Dixon/Print Collector/GI; 12-13, Danny Smythe/SS;
14-15, Tom Lovell/NG; 15, Louis S. Glanzman/NG; 16
17, Tom Lovell/NG; 18 (UP LE), Dmitri Mikitenko/SS;
18 (UP RT), Tom Lovell/NG; 18 (CTR LE), Jag_cz/SS;
18 (LO LE), Anna Jurkovska/SS; 18 (LO CTR, LO RT),
Mny-Jhee/SS; 20 (UP), Walter Bibikow/GI; 20 (CTR),
GTS Productions/SS; 20 (LO), Maarigard/Dorling
Kindersley/GI; 21 (UP LE), RHIMAGE/SS; 21 (UP RT),
Holmes Garden Photos/AL; 21 (CTR), Chronicle/AL;
21 (LO), Andrew J Shearer/iStock; 22, Sam Kennedy;
23, Leif Eriksson Discovers America (oil on canvas),
Dahl, Hans (1849-1937)/Private Collection/Photo
O. Vaering/Bridgeman Images; 24 (LE), SvedOliver/
SS; 24 (RT), Robert Harding Picture Library/NG;
25 (UP), Rue des Archives/Granger.com-All rights
reserved; 25 (LO), ART Collection/AL; 26 (LE),
Kevin Colin/EyeEm/GI; 26 (RT), Niklas Johansson/
iStock; 27, Fotokostic/SS; 28, valeriiaarnaud/SS; 29,
KEENPRESS/NG; 30 (UP), Gerry Embleton/North
Wind Picture Archives; 30 (CTR), Doug Houghton/
AL; 31 (UP LE), Leemage/UIG via GI; 31 (UP RT),
Hervey Garret Smith/NG; 31 (LO LE), MattiaATH/SS;
31 (LO RT), Andrey Puzanov/AL; 32 (UP LE), Gerry
Embleton/North Wind Picture Archives; 32 (UP RT),
George Burba/SS; 32 (CTR LE), Leif Ericson sails
past icebergs on his voyage to Newfoundland in
c.1000 (color litho), English School, (20th century)/
Private Collection/Peter Newark Historical Pictures/
Bridgeman Images; 32 (CTR RT), Tom Lovell/
NG; 32 (LO LE), Kevin Colin/EyeEm/GI; 32 (LO RT),
Fotokostic/SS

National Geographic supports K12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.
Visit natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

Viking is an old
Norse word that means
pirate or raider. But
when Vikings lived, most
people called them
Northmen, not Vikings.

Whats a Vikings
favorite song?

Row, Row, Row
Your Boat

When you think of Vikings,
do you think of mighty
warriors raiding a village?
In movies and stories, thats
often what we see.

Yet Vikings were farmers and
sailors. They were explorers
and traders. They made big
boats and beautiful arts and
crafts. And they told great
stories, too.
There is a lot to
learn about Vikings!

decorated Viking sword hilt, or handle

Vikings came from what are now
the countries of Norway, Sweden,
and Denmark. They lived in many
small villages.

Most villagers farmed and fished or
worked as merchants and craftspeople.
Other people were thralls, or slaves.
Viking leaders called jarls (YARLS)
ruled over many small villages. A
powerful jarl sometimes became a king.
The king
controlled a
larger area.

CRAFTSPEOPLE: People
with special skills in
creating arts or crafts,
such as blacksmiths,
jewelers, and shipbuilders