Who doesn’t love a good monster book? The more terrifying, the more we want to read it, right? Some of the most horrifying monsters live in classic literature. Among these are: The Giant Squid from 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne, Medusa from Greek Mythology, and Grendel from the Old English poem Beowulf.
Beowulf is the story of how Beowulf, the King of Danes, battles and defeats the monster that is attacking the mead hall in Heorot. The alliterative verse in Beowulf is studied by high school students year and year…including myself! As a high school student, I loved the story of Beowulf so much that I went on to read Grendel by John Gardner. Grendel is a retelling of Beowulf, but from Grendel’s perspective, which I loved so much!
Our Tompkins seniors are continuing the tradition of studying Beowulf and will begin researching monsters in other literature. One of my favorite contemporary “monster” works is A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, which was inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd. It is an absolutely brilliantly written story about “monsters” and dealing with loss.
The library has this title in print, audiobook, and ebook format. Read the book and then watch the movie in 2016 starring Felicity Jones and Liam Neeson!
What is your favorite monster book? Post it to the blog!