Bold colours, magic, a puzzle and educational information make up the story of Ævar Þór Benediktsson’s Grandfather Ævar, and how he got stranded on a volcano and almost turned into a Barbeque.
Stranded – a mostly true story from Iceland is a most enjoyable and captivating tale which, as it turns out, just happens to be very topical at the moment with the volcanoes in Iceland featuring on World news on a regular basis.
Grandfather was a scientist, explorer and photographer in Iceland; a very small country, actually an Island in the middle of nowhere. It is generally cold with long dark winters and very bright, long summers.
In1964 a volcanic eruption was happening and a new island was being formed. Grandfather was very excited by this and watched what was happening very carefully. Several months past and he and his friend were eventually allowed to go onto the Island to records some scientific facts and take photographs.
They were supposed to be there only for one day, but became so excited that it was getting dark, and cold, when they realised that perhaps it might be time to go. When they went to the place the boat should have been waiting for them, it was not there!
From then on they were both involved in a very, very scary adventure because new forming volcanic Islands can be very dangerous places to be, especially when it is getting dark! Perhaps the Norse Gods were looking after them, but you have to read the story to find out what happened, because I am not going to tell you.
There is a very informative section at the end of the book which tells a little about Iceland and a lot about the new volcano explored by Grandfather called Surtsey, named after a very powerful Norse God Surtr – a powerful fire giant.
The vivid illustrations from Anne Wilson, born on the volcanic island of Ascension, in the South Atlantic add to the charm of the words wandering amongst the pictures, to create a wonderfully informative, enjoyable book with wide appeal.
