The Feathered Cloak — Sean Dixon

When 11-year-old Freya meets Morton  -- a peregrine falcon who has been stripped of his feathers  -- in the woods near her home, she has no idea what to make of him. What has happened to this poor creature, and what force has made him cross her path? Before long, Freya and Morton have embarked on an adventure that will take her far from her goatherd father's small house. As the often bad-tempered girl and the once-majestic bird begin to form an unlikely bond, they find themselves at the center of a battlefield  -- one that pits old against new, god against mortal, peace against war, pagan against Christian, and brother against brother. Is this the end for the race of Norse gods and goddesses, and the Vikings who fight in their shadows? Or simply the beginning of a bigger story? In The Feathered Cloak, Sean Dixon conjures up a time part real and part imagined, weaving myth and history into a riveting saga for young readers.