The Viking Who Liked Icing
Lu Fraser and Mark McKinley
Bloomsbury Children’s Books

Here’s a story set long, long ago and far, far away.

When it comes to the traditional Viking skills or indeed anything else that requires some kind of sporting finesse, Nut, in contrast to his big sister Leaf, falls well short of the mark. Indeed whenever he picks up his bow and arrow, everyone else takes cover. He’s not entirely without talents however: he’s passionate about baking cakes and does so with lashings of creativity, dreaming about so doing at night too.

There’s one day in the Viking calendar that young Nut dreads more than any other: Viking Sports Day has him shaking in his boots. Nonetheless off he goes, cake in hand to the venue, a reluctant participant if ever there was one.

Things go pretty disastrously

and then comes the Great Horn-Throwing Race …

Is there any way Nut might redeem himself?

With its combination of Lu Fraser’s dramatic rhyming narrative and Mark McKinley’s hilarious scenes of Nut’s sporting ineptitude as well as his mouth-watering confections, and the other characters’ reactions to both, this is a fun demonstration of the fact that everybody has a talent that will win through if nurtured. That way lies happiness.

This will surely be a hit with young listeners at school or at home.