The new movie is getting mixed reviews, but it sure is provoking some interesting commentary. Two articles I found particularly interesting were Gary Kamiya’s Salon article, “‘Beowulf’ vs. ‘the Lord of the Rings'” (thank you, Leda Schubert, for the tip) and Michael Morpurgo’s take in the Guardian.
I don’t know Gary Kamiya at all, but I can assure you that Michael Morpurgo knows his Beowulf having penned a version for children last year that was illustrated by Michael Foreman. It is wonderful; my committee selected it as 2007 Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts.
This year I’m familiar with two more for children. There’s James Rumford’s elegantly illustrated version,
and Gareth Hinds’ inventive graphic novel.
Fascinating how they all came out within a year or two of each other!
educating alice 