Lowly’s Book Blog

As you may have noticed, much of my reading in the past few months has been for upper secondary and adults. It really is time to get back to my young adult literature. So last night I picked this wonderful text from the pile.

I think by now everyone has heard of the legend of Beowulf. I remember trying to make sense of it in a English Lit course at Uni (and thank goodness I was studying German at the time). Hollywood has also made it’s corruptions.

This book is based on a 1918 translation into modern English. This preserves the epic tone of the story, but the action is relayed completely through graphic means. The reader ‘watches’ the battles rather than reads about them. 

Hind indicates in his notes that he thinks of Beowulf as the original comic superhero. The stories have been around for well over 1000 years, and Hind returns to the original tale rather than the more common Hollywood and pop culture tendency to combine all the battles into one epic fight, and all the evil into Grendel and maybe his mother. He is also very good with the historical content within his graphics, using runes liberally and even in his interpretation of Grendel.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book.

Every now and then I manage to read the right book at the right time. In the past few days I have been thinking a lot about Obama’s inauguration and how the country where I grew up has changed. Then this book that I have been meaning to read for ages reached the top of the pile.

David is nine, and he is growing up in Tennessee in the 1950s. His father is the town doctor, and David starts to learn the bones of the body as soon as he can read. He shares this knowledge with his best friend Malcolm, so Malcolm knows the bones too. Malcolm can play baseball, and he can draw. Together these boys grow up sharing all the trauma and adventure that is involved. But Malcolm is black. Malcolm has to worry about the Klan, Malcolm knows that no matter how talented he is, he will never play baseball. David can see the injustice, and he is angry. But at nine years old what can you do?

This is a gem of a little book. I have recommended it for middle school students, and I think they can handle it comfortably, even if there is a darkness to the tale. Some may disagree. The writing is strong, the characters consistent and the plot very realistic. I loved it.

And perhaps many men and women growing up in the south like David have made this week’s political activities possible. Right now I am very proud of my homeland.