James Rumford does this retelling of “Beowulf”. It always amazes me how authors can shorten works to fit an adult novel into child size proportions. It’s just the simple task of talking about the main points but how does everything else get conveyed.
Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale Retold loses a lot of emotions that the characters convey in the epic poem. In this version Hrothgar doesn’t seem like he cares about Beowulf. When our hero goes after Grendel’s mother and didn’t resurface Hrothgar gathered his own men to leave but was quick to break his promise to Beowulf in taking care of Beowulf’s men.
The pictures also lack conveyance to the strength and bravery that Beowulf embodies. There’s nothing bold about these visuals. Even Grendel and his mother lack the transference of how monstrous they really look. As an audience we also miss the emotions that the two monsters have. In the poem we are told they have some sort of good emotion, in this version they are just monsters to us.
Also, there were too many dogs in these photos. I never felt that there were any dogs involved in the story of “Beowulf”. Drawing one into it would have been alright with me but there was a pack of them on a three page stretch.
I wasn’t amazed by this retelling. It will make a good introduction for a child, even though I don’t think many kids will be interested in reading “Beowulf” of their own accord. Unless of course they forget to do their reading homework or a parent decides “Beowulf” was their favorite book during college and decides to pick up a copy for their kid. The picture book is also good for learning to pronounce the names of the characters as well as the location names.
Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale Retold loses a lot of emotions that the characters convey in the epic poem. In this version Hrothgar doesn’t seem like he cares about Beowulf. When our hero goes after Grendel’s mother and didn’t resurface Hrothgar gathered his own men to leave but was quick to break his promise to Beowulf in taking care of Beowulf’s men.
The pictures also lack conveyance to the strength and bravery that Beowulf embodies. There’s nothing bold about these visuals. Even Grendel and his mother lack the transference of how monstrous they really look. As an audience we also miss the emotions that the two monsters have. In the poem we are told they have some sort of good emotion, in this version they are just monsters to us.
Also, there were too many dogs in these photos. I never felt that there were any dogs involved in the story of “Beowulf”. Drawing one into it would have been alright with me but there was a pack of them on a three page stretch.
I wasn’t amazed by this retelling. It will make a good introduction for a child, even though I don’t think many kids will be interested in reading “Beowulf” of their own accord. Unless of course they forget to do their reading homework or a parent decides “Beowulf” was their favorite book during college and decides to pick up a copy for their kid. The picture book is also good for learning to pronounce the names of the characters as well as the location names.