PENGUIN Beowulf

Beowulf is an awful fantasy book, filled with horrible gruesome creatures. This book is set in victimised Denmark around 400AD.The main character gives his name to the title of the book. Beowulf, a boasting and strong character aims to protect Hrothgar (an ally) and his people at all costs. He is the king of Heorot, a fictional city that becomes the victim of many monsters.In my own opinion, I find this legend uninteresting and vanilla. My justifications for this are that the story repeats itself time after time. The hero continues to protect the casualty city of Heorot against vile mythological monsters. Beowulf is full of gruesomeness and gore which is not the book for me. For example; ‘Reaching out to grab him with his killing claws’ also ‘simply tore him apart, gnawing and gnashing on his bones, until in moments nothing was left of the poor helpless man, not a hair of his head, not a hand, not a foot, not even a nail’ – See page 46.The book made me feel bored when listening to it but, as soon as my teacher put it down and stopped reading I felt as though I wanted to keep reading as it always ended on a cliff-hanger.My favourite chapter is Beowulf and the Sea-hag because it shows that women are strong (the sea hag is a woman). My favourite phrase is `The sea-hag dragged the prince to her cavernous lair’, because the sea-hag is winning and it feels exciting.I would recommend this book for children aged around 7-8 for guided reading with parents or teachers but for independent reading around 9-12. I would not buy this book unless you like lots of fiction. If you like historical books, this could be for you as it is mostly fiction but has home history blended into it. The type/genre of book is historical fiction.Have you been looking for a great story to get your teeth into? I suggest you keep looking as in my individual opinion this is not a great book.

Outstanding translation of the poem, putting the gory story at the heart, poignant and dramatic. It is prose, but the language makes it like prose-poetry. This is a little dark at the end, because the hero dies (at an old age), but wow - the language is wonderful, and feels faithful to the spirit and poetry of the original. I loved reading this, and my boy was hooked (although he cried a lot at the end). He was 7, and needed it read to him, but older children will love this.

Beowulf is a fantastic book with EYE-POPPING features. This make-belief book is set in the deadly depths of Denmark around 400 AD, an especially troubling era. The main character is as brave as brass (Beowulf he was called) because on countless attempts he saved King Hrothgar and his city Heorot from at first a blood thirsty monster and next the monster's sea-hag of a mother and later Beowulf's own people.For one thing, I find this book is filled with wonder and excitement. This book makes me feel like I'm there. Beowulf is only one of Sir Michel Morpurgo best selling novels because it has lots of suspense making me want to carry on reading to see if the hero has met his match.My favourite quote is 'A formidable breeze brought then over the shallows' because it really describes the scene and it paints a picture in your head and only GREAT books do that!Beowulf is an extraordinary book for children aged 9+.Would I recommend it to a friend? YES,YES,YES!!!!!!!!!!!! Beowulf is a Viking legend so if you like legends you should look no further and buy this book because Beowulf is the book for you. However, if you don't like legends than look on!By Poppy L, age 9

I had just finished reading the Seamus Heaney translation when I thought my grandson who is 10 would love this tale of the hero Beowulf. Obviously the Heaney version wasn't suitable for one so young but when I read the Morpurgo version I knew it would be just perfect for a 10 year old boy. The book is full of monsters and brave warriors without the soppy love stories though my grandson says he is OK with those as well!

My nine year old hated it. The fact that it was during home-schooling due to Covid probably didn’t help but the stories are, as expected, a little outdated and my daughter struggled with the idea that things could just be considered innately evil.