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Two Terrible Vikings

by Francesca Simon, illustrated by Steve May

Interest age: 6 to 8
Reading age: 6+

Published by Faber & Faber, 2021

  • Adventure
  • Funny
  • Historical

About this book

Hack and Whack are naughty twins living in the snowy fjords of a Viking kingdom back in the days when it was good to be bad. The terrible duo steal boats, loot a birthday party and go off to raid Bad Island. Their parents are very proud of their wicked antics, but are worried that Elsa Gold-Hair - who is sweet, kind, and into sharing and birthday parties - might be a bad influence on them.

This is a very funny and exciting book from the creator of Horrid Henry - and fans of Horrid Henry will love it. The book is told in three interlinked short stories which make it really manageable for a child who is just beginning to read independently, and is also a fun book to read out loud. The wild, laugh out loud humour level is well pitched for 5-8 year olds, with amusing drawings (one on every other page) by Steve May helping the storytelling along. This is a great new series for early readers and will make a perfect book to read before Cressida Cowell’s How to Train your Dragon series.

About the author

Francesca Simon was born in St Louis, Missouri, grew up in California, and went on to study Old and Middle English at Oxford and Medieval Studies at Yale. Following this, Francesca decided to work as a freelance journalist, writing for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Mail on Sunday, Telegraph, and Vogue (US). When her son Joshua was born in 1989, she started writing children’s books full time.

One of the UK’s best-selling children’s writers, Francesca has published over 50 books, including the immensely popular Horrid Henry series, which has now sold over 16 million copies. She lives in London with her husband, son, and Tibetan Spaniel, Shanti. 

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