TrollBlood Troll Blood, by Katherine Langrish • Harper Collins, 2008

I really went back and forth on whether this book counts as Canadian literature. The author grew up in Yorkshire and has lived in France and America. The book itself is third in a series focused on a Scandinavian village. But it came up in my search on the San Francisco Public Library’s catalog for Canadian children’s books, and the bulk of the action does take place on Baffin Island, a Canadian locale I spend a fair amount of my professional life writing about. So ultimately, I decided the book was Canadian enough for me.

The story follows Peer, a shipbuilder’s son with no aim of leaving his small village until Hilde, his long-time friend, companion, and secret crush, decides to join an expedition set for Vinland, a mysterious and far away land that few have ever seen. He joins the expedition, and finds that his Viking shipmates aren’t all they seem to be, and neither are the mysterious Skrælings of the Viking tales.

The story is a delightful fantasy, full of trolls, spirits and ice giants that live in unquestioned community with the human protagonists. Langrish has obviously done her research, but history and legend mix effortlessly with the narrative, creating a fully realized and engrossing world without the myth or history ever seeming didactic or forced. The story was complex without being overwrought, and satisfying without being predictable.

Readers ten and up, particularly those with an interest in North American prehistory, will love this book.  As will YA-loving adults — once the semesters over, I plan on devouring the first two (not even slightly Canadian) books.