Beowulf

by Rob Lloyd Jones

Monsters stalk the moors of ancient Denmark, murdering anyone they catch. But then a warrior comes from overseas. His name is Beowulf. He kills monsters.

Genres: Classics

64 pages, Hardcover

First published September 26, 2009

About the author

Rob Lloyd Jones was born in San Francisco but grew up in London. He studied Egyptology at University where he learnt hieroglyphics, and often goes on digs with the Egypt Exploration Society. He is a senior editor at Usborne, for whom he has written over thirty books – mostly historical non-fiction, but also adaptations of classics such as JEKYLL AND HYDE and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO. Rob is also a volunteer reading helper at a primary school in Clerkenwell and wrote episodes of the children’s TV show ‘Bernard’s Watch’ for Carlton Kids. He lives in south London with his wife Sally, and 14-month-old son Otis.

Reviews

[Hulaimat Iyabo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Beowulf, the brave Geat warrior. King Hrothgar of Denmark is troubled as a horrendous monster called Grendel has been terrorising his country, and slaying innocent people. Warriors from far came to defeat Grendel but they were all killed trying to fight him. Until one day, the King’s prayers were answered when Beowulf arrived and promised to kill Grendel. Night fell, and Beowulf was faced with Grendel. He fought a long and hard fight and finally killed him. The next day Grendel’s mother came to avenge her son’s death; again Beowulf fought hard and killed her. Beowulf returned to Geat and was crowned king. Many years passed and the kingdom was peaceful. Then along came a terrible dragon, the villagers feared him as the fire that roared out of his mouth burned houses and killed people. Now an old Beowulf must fight another monster, unfortunately it was to be his last as Beowulf and the dragon were killed in the fight.
Beowulf is an ancient story; this adaptation has been written in child friendly language. Packed with mystery, courage and foreboding sentences, it is definitely an enjoyable read.
I used this book with my Year 4 focus group in literacy to study the Vikings, Celts and Saxons. The children loved it! I must admit I am also a fan. My week’s plan included teaching the children to create a story map and paint a scene from the book on art day. The children were also taught to magpie words from the text and re-tell the story focusing on the use of grammar, ensuring that they use adverbs, adjectives, adverbial phrases and similes to make their writing interesting. The children produced some creative writing.

[Junayde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book because This book allowed me to find out about Beowulf’s story.king hrothagar was an idiot because a young Man named Grendel who was once human hated noise but heorot was too noisy so he was pushed into the swamp. One night the laughter woke Grendel up and he would kill every got gard that was unfortunate to stay in heorot then Beowolf came and killed the savage beast but Grendel‘s mother wanted revenge so beowoulf set out to kill her and so he did but there was one more monster that Beowulf had to killThe Dragon he did kill the Dragon but in doing so he killed himself I like this book so I’m giving it four stars

[Bill Stutzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Beowulf. This kids version does a fair job. Some of the illustrations are a little comic-bookish, and certain themes are always highlighted or neglected in retellings according to the interpretation, but it's a worthy version on the whole, especially for young chapter readers. It's not quite like the feel of the original epic, but then, how could it be? I'm biased.

[Leya · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I have watched this movie but just wanted to read a bit about this before I gift this book to my nephew. This is a great story of heroes, battles, dragons and evil. Glad that small piece of old English folk tale has been preserved.

[Mary Yarde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for younger readers. My son loves it!!

[Jenna Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

4yo absolutely loved this. I never knew about the bits after Grendal was dead!

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My girls liked this book, and they liked this BYU animation too.

[Vicente Borella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somebody died, that is why is only 4 stars

[Daniel Ball · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good

[Grace Duthie · Rating 2 out of 5]

* An easy-read of this classic.
* Exciting and action packed which could be used as inspiration for writing own action packed mythical stories.
* Due to the story being simplified, I feel a lot of the excitement was lost and that the story was more difficult to understand due to lots of the original description being omitted.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Only took me about 2 hours to complete.

An adventurous retelling of one of the most adventurous classics, complemented by glorious and detailed pictures. The wording of the story is cleverly spun but simple to read, a great introduction to a timeless tale, as is all books in The Usborne Young Reading series, particularly Series Three ( when those youngsters are ready for longer books and the wording is more difficult). If one does not wish to read it, the pictures make for a captivating story by themselves.

[Slow Man · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beowulf-tifully illustrated.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Beowulf" by Rob Lloyd Jones [9781409552475]
Superb illustrations of this graphic tale ***

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good, short retelling of Beowulf for readers aged maybe 8-12. The illustrations are scary to me, as they probably should be.

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because the monsters looked awesome and a bit scary.

[Jenna Vick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to help Hrothgar, who is the king of the Danes in the great hall called, Heorot. Heorot is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his own two hands and Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair.

I enjoyed this book. It was a super descriptive book. I like the way the author used so many adjectives. Also, this book has many pictures that helps the reader actually understand what is going on.

This book could be used as a history lesson in class but also, as a fun read for kids who enjoy this type of read.