“I am Beowulf. Many deeds of note have I done in my life.”
Action, epic battles, monsters, and dragons, all are found in Gareth Hinds’ graphic novel account of Beowulf. The story begins with the introduction to the setting and the kings that Beowulf will later help. Then this exciting graphic novel is broken into three mini-books.
The first book focuses on Beowulf’s battle with what seems to be an undefeatable monster, Grendel. In this section the reader learns about many fantastic feats that Beowulf has already overcome, leading the reader to believe that Beowulf will defeat the wicked monster that torments King Hrothgar's kingdom.
The second book focuses on Beowulf’s battle with Grendel’s mother. Here the reader sees the struggle that Beowulf has with a grief stricken monster in a fantasy world of an underwater lair. After succeeding at defeating this foe, the novel leads the reader into the third and final book.
Book three’s setting takes place years after the battle with Grendel and his mother. Beowulf is now the leader of his people and he has to defend them from a dragon. Does his strength run out or does he defeat this evil foe? To find out read Beowulf, by Gareth Hinds.
Reading Beowulf in a graphic novel form was an interesting and unique experience. I found the illustrations to be extremely helpful in interpreting the text. Since Beowulf was passed down for centuries using oral tradition, there is no known date of the original recording of this epic poem. Hinds based his graphic novel from the
That begin said I would not recommend this graphic novel to middle school students, because even though the illustrations help to interpret the novel, the overall meaning is lost, if you only look at the illustrations. I would suggest reading this novel freshman or sophomore year of high school. It would make a great accompaniment to the traditional version of the poem that many high school students are often required to read. I also found it refreshing to see a different version of an epic poem that is shared so frequently.
2 comments:
i ALMOST saw the movie this weekend. however i prefer reading in the comfort of my own room. but your review was actually more intriguing than the movie trailers. :)
Thanks Amanda. I was actually toying with adding a movie trailer clip to this posting, but they seem to have "Hollywoodized" it so much that from the trailer, it seems as though they leave out the final book. I did not want to post an inaccurate video to accompany this. However I too almost saw the movie this past weekend and wondered how true to the graphic novel it was.
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