Beowulf: A New Telling

This book is in such poor shape. I need to order another copy.

Here you have a re-telling of the story, Beowulf, for those age 12 and up. The reader will enjoy its good, solid, plot unencumbered with the sometimes odd (or stupid) twists and changes that the "visionaries" in Hollywood have repeatedly and needlessly used to enhance it. It retains the original's storyline, but for those of us who are not fluent in "olde English," it's in quite simple modern English. The themes of good vs evil are clear. The main characters are well enough developed so that the reader can enjoy each: The good guys are good; and the monster as well as other bad-guy types drip with insanity, EVIL, and really atrocious table manners! Additionally, it's not very long - somewhere around 100 pages.

I recently purchased Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye to read with my ninth grade special education students. They thoroughly enjoyed it and were able to dive into the symbolism used in the tale. I know it was a success because they have all ready made plans to go see the movie when it opens!!

I love this book!! I first read it in 7th grade for a book report, and now in 8th grade, I read it a second time. It's even better than before!! Out of all the versions of Beowulf I've read, this one is the best. The details and descriptions are exciting, and each day I read this book, finish the book and start over again. It's the best I've ever read!!!

I have taught this version of Beowulf in 7th grade for a few years now. I use it both with TAG students and slow readers. Kids love it because it is fast-paced with lots of (gory) visual imagery, but there is also just enough symbolism and kenning remaining from the more difficult versions that they feel they have really "tackled a major literary work." It makes a wonderful addition to a folklore/mythology unit, or it can stand on its own. I am sorry that it is so hard to find in regular bookstores, because my kids always want to go get a copy for themselves. It has intrigued many of my better students enough to go get a "real" copy and try to match the chapters in the Nye version to the verses in the poem.

This is a particularly arresting retelling of one of the great seminal works of Western literature. In our Performance English Program (CRDG The University of Hawaii), we use it as an entry-level introduction to this classic at the 7th grade so that when students re-encounter the story in the more conventional translation by Burton Raffel at the 12th grade they are predisposed to enjoy it in spite of its considerably greater difficulty. Students have been known to ask if they could skip assemblies so they could continue our in-class oral reading of the Robert Nye version without interruption. Lively narration, wonderful characterizations, great imagery. This story lives