title: Beowulf: Grendel the Ghastly
author: Michelle L. Szobody
description: Grade 46This is the first volume in Szobody's shortened, "modern" retelling of the <i>Beowulf</i> epic in picture-book format. This adaptation is reminiscent of the poem's Old English origins in meter and vocabulary, the boldface heraldic introduction, and the simply stated conclusion. Gerard's dark, brown- or blue-toned full-page paintings have a folkloric quality, the faces almost caricatures. Some scenes are lit by the golden glow of torchlight; others offer dark hints of the horrid beast and the devastation left in his wake. Several enlarged vignettes in sepia tones focus in on Grendel. A small map shows the lands of the Danes and Geats and pinpoints the great hall, Heorot, and Beowulf's route of travel. A glossary includes key words and their pronunciations, in-depth explanations of "epic Poetry," "prosody" (the musicality of Old English poetry); and a number of other poetic devices.<i>Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: Beowulf's Children -- Larry Niven
  
  
  (Version 2002.08.18)
  
  
  DRAMATIS PERSONAE
  
  
  EARTH BORN
  
  
  CADMANN WEYLAND: Onetime Colonel of UN Forces; Avalon Security Chief.
  
  
  MARY ANN (EISENHOWER) WEYLAND: Botanist and Chief Wife of Cadmann Weyland.
  
  
  SYLVIA (FAULKNER) WEYLAND: Biologist, Cadmann's Second Wife.
  
  
  ZACK MOSKOWITZ: Governor of the Avalon Colony.
  
  
  RACHAEL MOSKOWITZ: Colony Psychologist and Zack's only wife.
  
  
  CARLOS MARTINEZ: Remittance man. Historian, sculptor, and a hero of the
  Grendel Wars.
  
  
  JOE SIKES: Engineer: Onetime lover to Mary Ann Eisenhower, and a hero of the
  Grendel Wars.
  
  
  HENDRIK SILLS: Pilot. Hero of the Grendel Wars.
  
  
  CHAKA MUBUTU ("BIG CHAKA"): Biologist.
  
  
  CAROLYN MCANDREWS: Onetime Administrator and Agronomist. Heroine of the
  Grendel Wars.
  
  
  JULIA CHANG HORTHA: Agronomist, nurse, and Minister of the Unitarian-
  Universalist Fellowship.
  
  
  STAR BORN
  
  
  MICKEY WEYLAND: Mine Engineer and Forester; oldest son of Cadmann and Mary Ann
  Weyland.
  
  
  LINDA WEYLAND-SIKES: Daug