Runes are a type of ancient alphabet: the ABCs for people who lived before the ABCs we know now were even invented! Vikings, and other people who lived in the north of Europe-in places like Germany, Norway, and Denmark-used these runes to write and decorate, but also for magic spells. The runes inside this book are the same runes people used hundreds of years ago: they cut them into stone and wood and embroidered them into cloth to say, "I was here." Explorers, warriors, shieldmaidens, kings, and kids not so different from you all learned these runes, and passed them down through the ages-now here they are, drawn and described, so you can learn them too.