Midaldabörn. Edited by Ármann Jakobsson and Torfi H. Tulinius. Reykjavík: Hugvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2005. Pp. 142. ÍKR 2,450.

This volume about children and childhood in medieval Iceland is comprised of seven essays, all in Icelandic and most of them by Icelandic scholars. The brevity of some of the essays suggests that the book originated as a series of papers delivered at a symposium on the topic of children, though this is nowhere stated. In their informative introduction, which offers a concise and critical survey of research on children in the Middle Ages in Iceland and in general, Ármann Jakobsson and Torfi H. Tulinius, the editors, merely acknowledge that the book is slim ("petta rit er ekki mikid ad vöxtum" [p. 14]), but point to the adage that "[m]jór er mikils vísir" (p. 14; from tiny acorns mighty oaks grow) and express the hope that "it will mark the beginning of an increased interest in children on the part of medievalists" (p. 14; "pad marki upphaf pess ad frædimenn sem fást vid midaldir beini í auknum mæli sjónum sínum ad börnum").

Kirsten Wolf
University of Wisconsin, Madison