Monday Coffee Talk, June 18th

Of all the new Beowulfs for children, Charles McGrath likes Michael Mopurgo's best. See his review in yesterday's New York Times Book Review for details. I do admire the way the NYTBR can snap its fingers and get someone like McGrath, its former editor and former second-in-command at the New Yorker, to write about children's books.

Another promising blog from School Library Journal made its debut last week: Nonfiction Matters. (Please, please, SLJ, get rid of that bouncing ad. It is interfering with the launch of the cool new content.) [Update: Tuesday, June 19: That ad is gone. Yay! You rock, SLJ.]

The deadline for submissions to the June Carnival of Children's Literature is tomorrow, June 19th. More info at A Year of Reading.

Comments

[wisteria]

Beowulf is on our reading list for the Fall. I will look into these newer versions. We used the Ian Serraillier retelling the last time through the Middle Ages. My son loved Beowulf. Thanks for keeping me informed.

[Susan]

Any time, Wisteria! I'm glad to hear you've tried out Beowulf already and that it was well-received. Do y'all read any Shakespeare adaptations, too?

[wisteria]

We started with Edith Nesbit's Stories from Shakespeare and a few of Lois Burdett's Shakespeare Can Be Fun renditions, but the last two we've read, Macbeath and A Midsummer Night's Dream have been the adult versions. I also dragged my children to the Stratford Festival for a week of Shakespeare and other shows. Before you think my children are strange or super intelligent let me say that they are just regular children who have a mother who likes Shakespeare. I choose carefully and we do a bit at a time. I make it fun by doing voices and other ludicrous things. I try to remember that Shakespeare's intention was to entertain (and make a living), not to write canonized literature. We approach the plays with that in mind. Are there any wonderful Shakespeare adaptations with beautiful pictures? I love beautiful books. So do my children.

[a. fortis]

The kids' adaptation of Beowulf sounds great! I just borrowed a (relatively) new adult adaptation by Seamus Heaney. Not having read ANY version before, I'm wondering if I ought to start with the kids' version...

I clearly remember (because it was SO gruesome) having a graphic novel adaptation of Macbeth when I was a kid. The comic format was actually a great way to bring a play to life.