The Geat: The Story of Beowulf and Grendel

by John Harris, Tom Morgan-Jones (Illustrator)

The best version of "Beowulf" isn't called "Beowulf" - it's called "The Geat - the story of Beowulf and Grendel". It's not called "Beowulf" because it's not just another retelling of the old Anglo Saxon poem. Over the last ten years or so John Harris has developed an enviable reputation for his retelling of "Beowulf" - schools all over the country ask him back to tell the story every year as part of their curriculum. In that time the craft of telling the story to real children has combined with considerable research to produce the version we have here. "The Geat" is perhaps the nearest we'll get to the story that was told in northern Europe around the firelight for over a thousand years before "Beowulf" was written. It's one of the earliest horror stories, and certainly one of the best.

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

John[9 spaces]Harris

John trained for three years as a specialist Drama Teacher at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and later read for an MA in Modern Drama Studies.

Reviews

[Nina Rach]

This is a terrific version of the Beowulf story, and took less than an hour to read.
Well worth it! It's a very clear rendition of the arrival of Beowulf and his band of Geats to aid Hrothgar and his Danes in the fight against the monster Grendel.
Finding the book in the US is difficult, though. My copy came from Zurich.