Beowulf

(Softcover) This adaptation of the Beowulf epic written for a younger audience preserves the Anglo-Saxon verse feel of the original text. Illustrations by Sean Yates enhance the reader's experience. Joshua Gray's poetic re-telling of the Beowulf epic as a tale for children gets to the essence of the action with a use of modern English which is accessible and clear for young minds listening while busily building their own image-worlds... I have the sense that this new text may well encourage very young listeners years later (after their bedtime stories are a distant memory) to recall this tale with pleasure and to discover a vibrant curiosity to know more about the doings of Hrothgar Grendel and Beowulf. -- Benjamin Bagby Performer of Beowulf Gray captures both the fearsomeness of the poem's monsters and the artful alliteration of its Anglo-Saxon origins...Hook the kids with this version and hope that they will return to the longer poem in later years. -- Tod Linafelt Georgetown University