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Beowulf: A New Telling
by
Robert Nye
He comes out of the darkness, moving in on his victims in deadly silence. When he leaves, a trail of blood is all that remains. He is a monster, Grendel, and all who know of him live in fear.
Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, knows something must be done to stop Grendel. But who will guard the great hall he has built, where so many men have lost their lives to the m...more
Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, knows something must be done to stop Grendel. But who will guard the great hall he has built, where so many men have lost their lives to the m...more
Paperback, 112 pages
Published
March 15th 1982
by Laurel Leaf
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I was forced to read this book at school but it was actually much better than expected(especially compared to most class novels they make you read.). Classic battle between good and evil and a really nice theme. Also it was kind of unique because the original version was written during the Middle Ages and the story is a blend of mythology, fairy tales, and fiction. Better than the novel we read earlier this year(Master Puppeteer) but the ending was simalarly abrupt. It is a good quick read and h...more
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Emily
rated it
This is a book for middle schoolers, to make the Beowulf story more accessible. My 6th-grader and I read it as the beginning of her literature studies for this year. It was a very quick read for both of us -- she practically devoured it and really enjoyed reading it. One strength of this version is that, unlike the picture book our elementary schooler read last year (which was actually VERY cool) or the recent semi-animated movie, this focused heavily on the themes of good and evil, and how w...more
I picked up this book because it is one of the required reading books for my son and school starts next week. On the positive side, it is a very readable retelling of the epic poem Beowulf. The story of Beowulf is one of those things that everyone should be familiar with since Beowulf and Grendel are mentioned so often in other books. However, I found this an odd choice for required reading. As an epic poem the plot wanders a bit and the story is all plot. The characters are one dimensional...more
Nancy
rated it
Recommends it for:
middle school students
Recommended to Nancy by:
another teacher
Shelves:
modern-writers,
young-adult-literature
A short epic read for my 7th grade literature class. This is less than 100 pages and a book the boys love. It has blood, battle, and gore. Grendle is the hideous monster, but his mother is worse (isn't that always the truth for pre-adolescent boys?) Even my girls like the quick pace of the battles scenes and the promise that dashing Beowulf will succeed with bare hands to defeat his nemesis. This version can be extended for higher level thinking, or modified down for students who need assist...more
This epic tale is a fun adventure for any kid, and it's truly incredible to think that it was written about 1400 years ago. However, this translation... oh, the pain it brought me to read this extraordinarily awful translation. It is a clumsily regurgitated pile of text rife with grammatical errors, reduced to as ridiculously simplistic a form as possible. I winced at each spelling mistake, butchered metaphor, and scrambled sentence, which is to say, my face was fixed in a grimace from the first...more
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I thought that Beowulf was a good book. I thought the book was interesting because I was reading another book that mentioned Grendel and Cain. The part where Beowulf killed the fire drake was cleaver because I had heard another story where someone was eaten by a dragon and killed it from the inside with a pitchfork. The bees are kind of like that person. I also enjoyed the part where Beowulf killed Grendel. I thought the myths were very interesting. I would recomend this book to anyone who likes...more
I give it a hearty HUZZAH for readability. I like that it tries hard to make the story of Beowulf accessible. However, and this is a big however, what he chooses to add and omit to the story really bother me. First, he omits most of the religious references and imagery, which are really key to understanding the original Beowulf text and the context in which it was created. Second, and this really bothers me a lot more, he adds lots and lots of references to Grendel's "blackness": ...more
Gritty and gory - a fantastic fairy tale. We read this for our home school book group which includes a 9-yr-old girl and boy and a 12-yr-old girl and boy, and I was afraid that the 9-yr-old girl would find this book too frightening. But all the kids LOVED this story, and I love the character of Beowulf. He makes an interesting hero considering all of his short-comings.
Had this book a long time ago, lent it to someone, and never got it back. Dammit. One of the translations of Beowulf that I actually liked. Sure, there was some artistic license with the whole "bees" thing and how things ended, but nothing like the shameful abortion of a delivery that was the movie which came out recently from Hollywood.
I haven't read the original poem so I can't compare this retelling to the original. I read it because my son is reading it for school. I thought it was a fantastical story that had a good message about good vs evil. A little gory with graphic descriptions of the destruction that the bad creatures leave in their wake.
Ew. Just plain ew.
This was probably some of the most random, jacked-up, piece of literature ever. And all of the characters are weird creepers. Who wants to read about those?
So, just NO.
**Note: I had to read this for school. -___- Bleh. WHY DO SCHOOLS CHOOSE STUPID BOOKS FOR STUDENTS TO READ!? AGGG.
This was probably some of the most random, jacked-up, piece of literature ever. And all of the characters are weird creepers. Who wants to read about those?
So, just NO.
**Note: I had to read this for school. -___- Bleh. WHY DO SCHOOLS CHOOSE STUPID BOOKS FOR STUDENTS TO READ!? AGGG.
My mind was blown away by Beowulf and the amazing story that had propelled me through a whole new way to see fiction. Beowulf gave me a whole new perspective on how books can give us an insightful look at the past, it may do the same for you. It can be a great book if you are looking for a thrill.
I first read this in high school for Senior English as an assignment, but it was quickly added to my favorite books, and one I would like to someday own. The complex wording of the original epic poem has been wonderfully translated into common English that even a budding High School student can understand. I would recommend this book to any person who is interested in a grand adventure.
This book was read to me by a teacher when I was in 5th grade. It is an interesting story that is an interpretation from the original tale. I enjoyed it and it is short enough to read in less than a day.
This is a telling meant for juveniles. I read it while my seventh grader was reading it in school. It's a very easy read; a quick and enjoyable way to remind yourself of the classic tale.
Pretty good. I liked it alot even though it was a school book that I was forced to read.....Kinda gory though....Wouldn't recommend it to everybody.But still really good!
i read this version of the interpretation last year for school. it was very good! it was great to analyze and the language and descriptions were lovely.
Not as good as the Bible from a story point of view, but as many story lines and characters have been drawn upon this story as the Bible or the Odyssey
I had to read this book for English. wow. it was reallllly bad! I think it was like the first book ever written in english? i can see why.... :)
Riveting! I think this would be a good book for reluctant readers, especially pre-teen boys. It kind of reads like a video game.
I think one reason I liked it so much was because it was such a drastic change fro. The other books they make us read in school. This one was soooooo much better!
Amazing version of Beowulf! My children (ages 8-13) loved it and couldn't put it down!
My thoughts on the book are actually not very good because the book was just to
I don't know how true this is to the original but I really enjoyed it.
It's violent and kind of gory but some-what entrancing.
Simple translation, but not my favorite.
an amazing story (to me anyway). i loved a lot
bbboring kinda i got a 24/25 on my comic for it!
Nicole
rated it
Monsters aren't really my thing.
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Nye started writing stories for children to entertain his three young sons. Nye published his first adult novel, Doubtfire, in 1967.
Nye's next publication after Doubtfire was a return to children's literature, a freewheeling version of Beowulf which has remained in print in many editions since 1968. In 1970, he published another children's book, Wishing Gold, and received the James Ke...more
More about Robert Nye...
Nye's next publication after Doubtfire was a return to children's literature, a freewheeling version of Beowulf which has remained in print in many editions since 1968. In 1970, he published another children's book, Wishing Gold, and received the James Ke...more
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