Customer Reviews

Beowulf

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

James Rumford, Beowulf: A Hero's Tale Retold (Houghton Mifflin, 2007)

James Rumford's challenge in writing this short adaptation of Beowulf was to do it using only words that would have been present in its original language. He found that he couldn't do it-- Old English lacked indefinite articles, for one thing, and Old English already had some cognates he couldn't get around ("dragon", for example)-- but that he managed to come as close as he did, and still manage to adapt the story in such a way as to make it suitable for young readers, is quite a feat. Some parents might find the resultant text a bit strong for their youngsters, but let's face it, you can't tell the story of Beowulf and his epic battles against various monsters without a bit of nastiness. And, to be fair, the kiddies are going to love it. There's nothing here any more violent than one finds in the Roadrunner cartoons. The diction is clipped and precise, though fast-paced, and the drawings are exquisite, if a bit crude (one assumes, given the subject matter, this was by design). Well worth it, especially if you're using it as part of a larger plot to introduce your kids to the classics. ****

I was amazed to stumble across this at the library. It presents a reasonably authentic Beowulf to a very young audience, in a way the kids will love. Or at least boys anyway.

I read it tonight to my oldest two, ages 5 and 3; both boys. They were fascinated and the older one had several questions that led to interesting discussions about what life and people were like in the time and place depicted. Knowing them, they'll probably ask to have it read to them again.

The fact that the language was (mostly) limited to words that already existed in the language at the time, before the big influence of the French language began in 1066, is fascinating, if too cerebral to expect my 5 year old to understand.

I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could. This book transcends Amazon's star system. Taking such an old classic and making it so engaging and exciting for such young children today is a very special achievement.

I'd like to see this kind of treatment for other very old classics.


UPDATE:

We've now had the book for about a month. The boys love it, and have chosen it several times for bedtime reading. My wife complains that it takes me almost half an hour to read, and that is a bit long for bedtime reading for their ages, but it's so worth it.

The library will want it back soon. We'll need to get a copy of our own.

Someone at Houghton Mifflin deserves a lot of credit for discovering Rumford. As others note, he uses the gimmick of only English words having Germanic roots, but there's much more to this triumph than that.

Now, I'm a decidedly amateur poetry reader, so bear with me while I struggle to put this into words... his sentences scan; they have rhythm, and meter. He did not go out of his way to recreate the original alliterative verse like Sullivan and Murphy's sublime Beowulf, A Longman Cultural Edition (better than Heaney, imho); he uses no overt rhyming or alliteration. And yet, reading these out loud, you will hear the strong beats, the stresses that just keep coming and coming, pounding and pounding, until you feel almost as though you are chanting a poem. I spend 45 minutes a night reading to my three and five year old, and, trust me, this one reads well. I'll try to give a few examples, chosen more or less at random.

Here is a sentence from the first page, "I will speak of ogres and dragons and faraway lands." The rhythm runs like this: "da da da da DAda da DAda da DAdada dum". That DAdada DAdada DAdada dum really rolls off the tongue. If that makes no sense, try this, I'll rewrite it with strong syllables in all-caps. i will speak of O-gres and DRA-gons and FAR-a-way Lands. If you say it out loud you'll hear the beat.

Another example, "Soon the hall was filled with talk of the coming fight." Soon the HALL was FILLED with TALK of the COM-ing FIGHT. Dum da DA da DA da DA da da DA da DA.

Another, "When those on the bank saw the reddening waters they feared the worst." when THOSE on the BANK saw the RED-den-ing WAT-ers they FEARED the Worst". da DA da da DA da da DA da da DA da da DA da dum. That last word, worst, has a sort of medium stress, but when reading out loud it naturally falls a little lower than usual to preserve the rhythm.

Enough, already. You see my point. I suppose it's possible that his choice of germanic-root words just created a superabundance of stresses, and by pure random coincidence some of them fell into occassional patterns. But I doubt it; I prefer to think Rumsford is simply brilliant.

About the age-recommendation. I strongly disagree with Amazon.com's stated age of "9-12". I am reading it to my 3 and 5 year olds, and they adore it. I find that good writing is easier to understand. The rear cover itself says "Ages: Strong-hearted and up." I get a kick out of that.

About the artwork: it's good, more "artsy" than "comic book". But you can judge for yourself with Amazon.com's look-inside feature. You should know that there is an illustration on every page. My children enjoyed pointing out little details to me: a raven here, a dragon tail there. I'm sure that helps them appreciate it more, even if they don't always follow the language. There are about 100 words on an average page, some more, some less. This takes just a minute or two to read, and then it's on to the next page and a new illustration.

As I keep saying, when it comes to children's books, they get read, and read, and read, and read, and so it matters a lot that daddy can stand to read them. There has to be some overlap between what children enjoy and what daddy can tolerate. This one is a pleasure. A gift.

At first what caught my attention were the beautiful illustrations in this book. Upon further examination I discovered the writing is as beautifully crafted as the illustrations. This is a great adaptation of Beowulf and a must for any family library.

Pull up a chair, listen to the tale. See the runes play across the pages. The illustrations are superb; as for the text - it captures a lot of the Beowulf poem without being overwhelming (the sea is the whale-road and the wave-weaver). On the Notes page, you'll learn that James Rumford used only words with Anglo or Saxon roots, apart from "they, them, and their". Well done, sir!

The illustrations have the look of the illustrations in my Tolkein books (or maybe that's just my edition of the Ring trilogy). This book is perfect for boys in that too-old-for-fairy-tales age group - heroic and challenging, beautifully made and full of adventure. Strong hearts and steady characters.

I bought this for my 9-year-old. Both he and my 4-year-old were enthralled, and draw endless cartoons of Beowulf doing battle. The illustrations are beautiful, and really capture the topography and climate of Northern Europe. Rumford's retelling in a completely pre-Norman vocabulary has real stylistic merit. As far as the violence is concerned, the story simply *is* violent, and the ending is not happy: his kingdom's enemies "would come upon them like ravens, like wolves" after the great hero is buried. That's certainly true to the harsh world of Beowulf, and I'm grateful that Rumsford leaves it that way instead of turning it into a cheerful boy's book, like most of the available retellings of the tales of King Arthur or Robin Hood.

I have this book from my public library, but I have just wishlisted it and will likely buy it next time I place an order. My homeschooled, 7-year-old daughter just read half of it out loud to me, and listened eagerly as I finished it. That she was able to read so much of it herself is a credit to her developing skills and also to the book's readability, as she is just beginning to read at the easy-chapter-book level. And, yes, she's a girl and was captivated by the story. She's squeamish about blood in general, but this tale isn't a tale of gore--it's a moving tale of courage, and she got that immediately.

I majored in English literature in college, have an MFA in Fiction, teach English at the college level. I take my literature very seriously. This adaptation of the classic is rich enough it to keep the conversation going deeply into Anglo-Saxon culture, linguistics, literary analysis, and Old English literary techniques.

The emphasis on physical strength, courage, and masculine relationships is obvious.

Two short lines given in the original, with a translation and pronunciation guide, are enough to show the relationship of Old English to modern English (and German). I had to hold myself back from confusing her with a minilecture on the Norman Invasion.

The three parts (which we talked about at a symbolic level for weeks when I was studying Beowulf in college) include many little details that scholars live for (like Beowulf's choice to face the male monster unarmed, but the female monster he kills with a giant's sword), and the parts are emphasized by different background colors for each. The art is visually and symbolically rich too. Notice how the dragon--the hero's death--lurks in the background of the first two parts, finally coming to the foreground in the third part.

While Rumford did not attempt to keep the alliterative four-stress lines and caesura, he also didn't do anything silly like turn it into a rhyming poem. He did keep several kennings (compound words capturing the essence of a thing as a substitute for its ordinary name) and alliterative lines that give the flavor of Anglo-Saxon verse. For example:

"'A dragon!' the Geats wailed.
"'A flying fire-snake,' they cried, 'has come to our land!'"

The first line eliminates the question "What's a fire-snake?" before it can even be asked. The reader is free to simply enjoy the sound of "flying fire-snake" in the subsequent line without trying to crack the kenning code (ah, I do love alliteration!).

I wish I had the background to break down the artwork the same why I do the writing. The pictures are beautiful, scary, and human. They are full of little details that make the story feel real and yet carry symbolic significance as well. For instance, as the aged Beowulf dresses for his final battle, he is assisted by two youths--one male and one female--hope for his people, and also just faithful and loving members of his household. His upper body still looks strong, but his legs look frail. A death-crow screams at him through the window, but his dog (perhaps a relative of the puppy Hrothgar was petting pages back?) looks up adoringly at his master. I do have to question the historical authenticity of the Christian monk in the foreground of Beowulf's funeral picture, but as she stands well back from the crowd as if he is approaching the scene from a distance and has not yet arrived, he probably has a significant symbolic role.

If you have a child to shop for, take advantage of the excuse to buy this book for your own enjoyment.

The story is retold beautifully. Geared well towards children, with beautiful pictures. My kids are enamored with this book. Of course no retelling of Beowulf would be complete without some spurting blood, so if you dislike that aspect of the story, this book isn't the solution.

What a wonderful way to introduce children to the classics!
My 7 year old was totally enthralled. The author did an excellent job of capturing an epic in a very abridged version. It took us a long time to read it the first time because every picture had to be examined. Intricate, detailed artwork, set in 'mood' colors give this reading a much more intense feel. This may not be suitable for the 5-ish crowd, but 7 and up... yes. I think even a 12 or 13 year old might enjoy this. As an adult, I enjoyed reading it to my son. We are a homeschool family and I really wanted to start him out with some of the classics. This was a perfect introduction. By evening I had thousands of Playmobil pieces on my living room floor in a Beowulf scenario. Kudos to this author! I'm hoping he would do an entire series of these books. Some of the pictures do depict some violence. They are not overly graphic, and I consider myself somewhat conservative. One picture, for example shows the fangs of the dragon plunged into a neck, with blood droplets. Well, if you bite someone on the neck you're probably going to get blood.
This is not a "G" book, but "PG". However, it's the tale of a man killing a dragon, twice. It's also a wonderful tale of dedication, keeping your word, and honor. I don't see this leaving my son's bedside any time soon!

Captivating illustrations. Beautiful cover treatment. Text appeals to young people. Great read aloud. The classics have never been better!