Just Finished Reading Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

If you're familiar with frost giants then you might already guess from the title of the book I'm reviewing today that it has something to do with Norse mythology...I should have known since I'm also recently finished reading the same author's 2020 book, titled just that: Norse Mythology.  Odd and the Frost Giants is an earlier children's book of his, published in 2008.  Odd is the name of a little boy living somewhere in what is now Norway whose father, a Norse Viking farmer, died during a raiding expedition.  His Scottish mother (taken during an earlier raid) and he now live with his abusive stepfather...not a good thing.  One spring the warmer weather never arrives and Odd's village finds itself increasingly short of food in the midst of the continuing desolate winter weather...he furtively runs away to his father's old cabin, in which he discovers a strange block of wood with runes his dad had been carving: this has significance later in the story.  Odd comes across an eagle, a fox, and a bear and the story takes off from there in a completely different direction...or does it?  After all, it all comes back home as the explanation for the never-ending winter makes itself evident.  Odd and the Frost Giants is a short book, and it reminded it quite a lot of Roald Dahl's writing.  As far as Neil Gaiman's books are concerned...excluding any consideration of his numerous graphic novels which I haven't yet read...you can pretty much pick out any at random and you have for yourself an enjoyable reading experience ahead.  He has a gift of compassion in his writing, not only for the characters both good and bad, but also for the storytelling process as a whole.  I think you'll get a big kick out of reading this book no matter what your age...