Odd and the Frost Giants / Neil Gaiman / 117 pages / May Challenge

"Odd meant the tip of a blade, and it was a lucky name.  The boy in the story was odd. At least the other villagers thought so.  But if there was one thing that he wasn't, it was lucky."  After an accident Odd was crippled and had to walk with a cane.  After his Viking father died, his mother married Fat Elfred who already had kids of his won and ignored Odd.  Odd went to his father's old hunting hut and determined never to return to his village.  He dreamed of being a brave lord like in his mother's Scottish ballads, with a horse, a dog, and a falcon.  Instead, he got a bear, a fox, and an eagle, an unending winter, and friendship with the gods.  References to well-known folk tales abound in this story, a common element in Neil Gaiman stories.  Anyone who favors the underdog or using cunning, ingenuity, and common sense to better a stronger, more powerful opponent will be drawn to Odd and the Frost Giant.