How can the God of Mischief prove he’s a “good” person when chaos, pranks, and annoying Thor are just so much more fun?
Louie Stowell, author and illustrator, continues her celebrated Loki: A Bad God’s Guide series with the fifth installment, Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Causing Chaos. This middle-grade fantasy, aimed at readers aged 8 to 12, follows the 11-year-old Norse trickster god, still banished to Midgard and compelled by Odin to write a magically truthful diary of his “good deeds.” Just as Freyja arrives to monitor the peace, chaos breaks out: Thor gets fan mail, Loki’s classmates feud, and Heimdall falls for a teacher. To sort out the magical mess and avoid dire consequences, Loki must (reluctantly) team up with his elven foe, Vinir.
This book is a great choice for students developing their English skills or for those who find traditional novels intimidating. The entire story is presented as a doodle-packed diary, a high-interest, low-readability format that immediately engages snd retains intertest. Stowell’s abundant black-and-white cartoons and handwritten marginalia are central to its accessibility; they function as visual supports that drive comprehension, allowing students to follow the plot and grasp emotional cues directly from the illustrations. The prose mimics this immediacy, using predominantly simple sentences, diary-style shorthand, and direct address. While mythological terms appear, they are supported by context, and the vocabulary remains grounded in everyday language. This series, which has already won honors like the British Book Awards, is ideal for the classroom because it narrows the gap between mature themes—like moral philosophy—and reading demand, offering a complete, engaging story that builds reader confidence.
