Beowulf the Warrior

from the hardback edition published 1961, Henry Z. Walck, Incorporated, New York" Here is a spirited version of the oldest English verse epic. With tremendous power and memorable simplicity, Ian Serraillier has retold the heroic saga of the warrior who in his youth delivered Hrothgar the Dane from the menace of Grendel, the night-prowling monster; and who in his old age fought his last victorious but fatal battle against the dreadful dragon who ravaged the land of the Geats. The verse follow the pattern of the original poem closely, rekindling the fire and vigor of the unknown author who first wrote down this magnificent story, more than a thousand years ago.""To venture on the story of Beowulf in verse, whether for children or adults, is a deed with its own kind of heroism. ...There must be a hundred ways of failing; Mr. Serraillier has hit on one of the ways to succeed. In about 800 lines of well-wrought verse, suitable for reading aloud, and free from the stale smells of lamp and candle, he establishes a manly narrative...""-Times (London) Literary Supplement"Absolutely terrific retelling that condenses the Beowulf story to about 800 lines from the original 3812, while keeping the tone and intent intact. In my opinion it is a literary work of genius, and of great understanding of the original tome. Read aloud for grades 2/3 thru high school. (for sensitive children do not tackle till grades 4/6 due to blood and battle scenes) Independent read for grades 5/6 thru adult, but really best for late jr. high and all thru high school, even as prep for college literature classes.This retelling is well-complemented by Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo for grades 5-12. For the Beowulf story for younger readers, grades 2/3 to 5/6, I recommend The Dragon Slayer by Rosemary Sutcliff.PS- Beowulf is much more likely to appeal to the male gender.

I bought this because I needed it for my 8th grade daughter's Memoria literature guides. I was filled with trepidation at the thought of doing Beowulf with her because I remember HATING Beowulf in school. This book is awesome, though. First of all, it is condensed so it's not the full version. But that's okay. It has so effectively retold the Beowulf story that I would not be at all surprised if my daughter goes on to read the full thing on her own (we have another copy.) In fact, I reread this and loved it so much that now I'm using it as a read aloud with my other children ages 6-12. They all love it; they're at the edge of their seats to hear what happens next. I STRONGLY recommend this to anyone wondering if they should tackle (or retackle!) Beowulf!

We bought this book for our homeschool. We're learning about Vikings.... Why isn't everyone reading this??? It's like the best boy book! Anyway, yeah, let's just put it this way, the children said, "do we HAVE to?" And then I gave them the, "try it, you'll like it." Speech. After the first chapter, they wanted me to finish the book.

Great, readable translation with illustrations. Much more fun than the copy I read in high school.

Fantastic book for 6th grade readers.

great for kids, could have been a little longer and maybe some better illustrations

Beowulf (Signet Classics)  My youngest son has been wildly enamoured of Beowulf for the past 40 years. I finally found a translation that made sense. It was one of his Christmas presents.

I loved this well-written and action-packed version of the story, and so did my five-year-old son.

althought a slim paperback, fantastic prints and a great translation