It's a minor fault, but I do think it's a shame as Morpurgo has such a knack of explaining the whys and wherefores of his stories. The story of Beowulf appeals to wide range of children and I think the older ones, like my son, would benefit from some background. The first thing my son said when we'd finished reading was, 'Where were all the gods?' I was able to explain that the Beowulf story was probably based on real people who were almost certainly pagan, but had only been written down by a Christian monk after several hundred years of oral retellings and that it was likely the monk had inserted the monotheistic elements. I did find the omission of a postscript with some background on the poem a little disappointing. The atmosphere is one of high drama and passion but there is nothing to threaten a sensitive little one. The colours are bold and the emotions are high but the whole feel is an otherworldy one. His vision is strong and powerful, yet retains an ethereal quality which allows a child's imagination full rein. The artist, Michael Foreman is, as ever, right on the button. Every element of the original is perfectly realised in a tale that seems old, but not old-fashioned, heroic, but still relevant.īeowulf is lavishly illustrated.

We felt as though we were part of a very long tradition, and indeed we were. My husband spent a happy hour or two caught up in it. My sons listened as I read, then read it alone. Morpurgo takes the role of storyteller and his tale of this Geatish hero and his battles against monsters grabbed everybody's attention hereabouts. It is full of grandeur and passion and high drama, breathing new life into the oldest story known to the English. From its very beginning, Morpurgo's tale breathes that wonder.

There is something quite wonderful about telling a story that has been told for almost fifteen hundred years. Since then, it has been retold many times, by many great authors. Elements of the tale can be seen all over The Lord of the Rings. The manuscript was first used largely by historians, searching for clues about life in those times, but a landmark essay by Tolkein in the 1930s brought it firmly into the literary realm. It tells the story of a Geatish hero, Beowulf, and his battles against the monster, Grendel, the sea hag that was Grendel's mother and, the hardest battle of all, against a giant, treasure-hoarding dragon. It was told by the wave of Anglo Saxons who settled in England during the dark ages and was first written down some time around the end of the first millennium AD. Suitable for the littlest of little ones right up to teenagers, it would make a wonderful gift.īeowulf is the oldest surviving Old English poem. Summary: Told with drama and grandeur and illustrated with vigour and mysticism, this latest version of the Beowulf story for children will become a classic, more than worthy of its predecessors.

Beowulf michael morpurgo illustrations