Collins Big Cat - The Vikings' Secret Weapon: Band 12/Copper

Discover how the Vikings raided, traded and invaded for 300 years across Europe and beyond. Learn all about the Vikings’ secret weapon: the longship and just how powerful it was.

• Copper/Band 12 books provide more complex plots and longer chapters that develop reading stamina.

The idea for a children’s book about Viking longships came to Ben Hubbard while researching his adults’ book: The Viking Warrior. Longships were key to the Viking success in their raiding, trading and invading exploits. A technological wonder of the age, the longship enabled both swift attacks on coastal settlements as well as long sea voyages to far flung destinations, such as the Black Sea, Greenland and North America. The striped sail of the longship remains an enduring symbol of the Vikings to the present day and also graces the cover of this book for Collins: The Vikings’ Secret Weapon.

Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Book banded for guided and independent reading, there are reading notes in the back, comprehensive teaching and assessment support and ebooks available.

Collins Big Cat is a whole-school reading programme that provides complete support for primary reading. Children will become fluent readers through hundreds of high-quality fiction and non-fiction banded books by award-winning authors and illustrators. In-depth teaching resources support you in developing and assessing key reading skills at all stages from early reading through to phonics, to guided, whole-class and independent reading for more confident readers.