Poetry
![Zach Weinersmith - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B00LDB3PW0.jpg)
Bea Wolf
A modern middle-grade graphic novel retelling of Beowulf, featuring a gang of troublemaking kids who must defend their tree house from a fun-hating adult who can instantly turn children into grown-ups.
Listen! Hear a tale of mallow-munchers and warriors who answer candy's clarion call!
Somewhere in a generic suburb stands Treeheart, a kid-forged sanctuary where generations of tireless tykes have spent their youths making merry, spilling soda, and staving off the shadow of adulthood. One day, these brave warriors find their fun cut short by their nefarious neighbor Grindle, who can no longer tolerate the sounds of mirth seeping into his joyless adult life.
As the guardian of gloom lays siege to Treeheart, scores of kids suddenly find themselves transformed into pimply teenagers and sullen adults! The survivors of the onslaught cry out for a savior―a warrior whose will is unbreakable and whose appetite for mischief is unbounded.
They call for Bea Wolf.
Listen! Hear a tale of mallow-munchers and warriors who answer candy's clarion call!
Somewhere in a generic suburb stands Treeheart, a kid-forged sanctuary where generations of tireless tykes have spent their youths making merry, spilling soda, and staving off the shadow of adulthood. One day, these brave warriors find their fun cut short by their nefarious neighbor Grindle, who can no longer tolerate the sounds of mirth seeping into his joyless adult life.
As the guardian of gloom lays siege to Treeheart, scores of kids suddenly find themselves transformed into pimply teenagers and sullen adults! The survivors of the onslaught cry out for a savior―a warrior whose will is unbreakable and whose appetite for mischief is unbounded.
They call for Bea Wolf.
Editorial Reviews
"Weinersmith's richly evocative turns of phrase run the gamut from hilarious to heart-rending and maintain the flavor of the original without bogging the pace down amid the kennings. Boulet's illustrations imbue the shenanigans with gleeful energy and a touch of dark absurdity that children, seeing their own fears and triumphs reflected, will delight in."―Kirkus, starred review
"Readers will wish they could pledge their plastic swords to defending Treeheart and the sanctity of wild childhoods everywhere."―School Library Journal, starred review
"This is true bardic glory, a wild embrace of absurdity and wit with exaggerated language used for maximum impact...Boulet's illustrations are no less epic than the story, and the finely lined black and white drawings invite careful examination, with the payoff being clever visual side jokes."―The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review
"[Bea Wolf is] a truly fresh, inventive remix that privileges childhood's insular sensibilities alongside an unsettling truth: 'Time lingers for no kid.'"― Publisher's Weekly, starred review
"Bea Wolf is
a) Beowulf retold for kids;
b) a genuinely funny story in its own right;
c) a pretty much perfect melding of words and the most charming illustrations in an alliterative romp through the oldest surviving English poem, served fresh and fabulous; and
d) glorious, accurate, profoundly silly, and hilariously profound." ―Neil Gaiman
"As haunting, hilarious and perplexing as the ancient stories one hears around the campfire, castle or cafeteria."―Lemony Snicket
"The story that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien and entranced Seamus Heaney has now been reworked with vivid illustrations, heroic kids, and extra Fudgsicles. The result is the most delightful, inventive, joyful epic ever created. I simply can't express how much I love Bea Wolf." ―Tim Harford, host of Cautionary Tales
"In this uproarious rampage of rowdiness, the Bea Wolf
"Readers will wish they could pledge their plastic swords to defending Treeheart and the sanctity of wild childhoods everywhere."―School Library Journal, starred review
"This is true bardic glory, a wild embrace of absurdity and wit with exaggerated language used for maximum impact...Boulet's illustrations are no less epic than the story, and the finely lined black and white drawings invite careful examination, with the payoff being clever visual side jokes."―The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review
"[Bea Wolf is] a truly fresh, inventive remix that privileges childhood's insular sensibilities alongside an unsettling truth: 'Time lingers for no kid.'"― Publisher's Weekly, starred review
"Bea Wolf is
a) Beowulf retold for kids;
b) a genuinely funny story in its own right;
c) a pretty much perfect melding of words and the most charming illustrations in an alliterative romp through the oldest surviving English poem, served fresh and fabulous; and
d) glorious, accurate, profoundly silly, and hilariously profound." ―Neil Gaiman
"As haunting, hilarious and perplexing as the ancient stories one hears around the campfire, castle or cafeteria."―Lemony Snicket
"The story that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien and entranced Seamus Heaney has now been reworked with vivid illustrations, heroic kids, and extra Fudgsicles. The result is the most delightful, inventive, joyful epic ever created. I simply can't express how much I love Bea Wolf." ―Tim Harford, host of Cautionary Tales
"In this uproarious rampage of rowdiness, the Bea Wolf
Readers Top Reviews
Chris LJonathan M
I absolutely can't wait to read this with my young nieces! They might be too young, but I think they will enjoy this on different levels for years to come. But also, I enjoyed it very much. The cover itself is beautiful. The illustrations are sublime. The story is moving and inspiring. The language is so evocative. And I learned some things I never knew about Beowulf in the outro. As a gestalt, this is just an incredible work of art and I can't recommend it enough! Bravo!
E. RyanChris LJon
I bought a copy of this for myself because I liked the premise, and ended up loving it so much that I bought a copy for my best friend's children. Though the violence of the original work was left behind in favor of the "monster" turning the children older with just a touch of his finger, it's not afraid to let itself be a bit dark, even as it's talking about kids partying, being noisy, and eating an irresponsible amount of junk food.
Scott M.E. RyanCh
I'm a 61yo dad. I'm a voracious reader, former business professor. I loved this book more than most. How to describe it? The illegitimate offspring of The Stinky Cheese Man, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and anything by Shel Silverstein. This made me happy. It made me reminisce about what it means to be a kid. The verse left me agape at the author's creativity and skill. The poetry (of which I like very little) sang to me. The drawings immersed me in the world with their details. I wanted to go to the nearest street corner and give a dramatic reading. (I didn't, but I'm pretty sure it would be well received...but I'm still not going to.) Get this book and make your day (and the day of some child) better.
Stewart Alan Shie
Got the book yesterday and read a few pages to my ten year-olds twins at bed-time. They loved it so much we kept going for an hour. The next night we finished it. I loved it too, so reading a few (dozen) more pages was easy. Bea Wolf is magical to read aloud. The kids ate up the pictures and the words. Here's a few quotes from them: "Kids are awesome in this book." "Loved it, loved it, loved it. I want to read it tomorrow." "All the kid stuff was so neat." If you've read the sample, you know that Bea Wolf is hard-charging from the first - well, the rest of the book is the same way. From water dodgeball matches to ingenious plans, there are many memorable moments, and all alight with verse. If you've wanted to share your love of delicious words with your children, mine Got It with Bea Wolf. If you've wanted to read a story that is wonderful just for itself, with great deeds and craven cowards --- without being a morality tale, it's here with Bea Wolf. I don't write many reviews, but I felt I had to here. Thank you for the wonderful hours, dear authors.
Some dudeStewart
I preordered this because I love all of Mr. Weinersmith's work, because I knew it would make a great bedtime story for my daughter. We were not disappointed- it was an immediate hit! In fact, this may be the first time we've read a book, where at the chapter boundary (and time for bed), my daughter was frantically asking to know what comes next! The language and the illustrations left me on the verge of cracking up the entire time, and of course I got to read it in my dramatic voiceover narrator voice. So much fun. Even the parts that could be mundane are fun- one of my favorite parts of the book is when it recounts the line of Kid-Kings. IIRC, that's kind of like a biblical A begat B begat C in the original, but in this presentation turns laugh-out-loud funny. So if the authors can make genealogy funny, imagine what they do with the proper parts of the story! I used "we can read another chapter" as a treat all week and we finished the book in record time. I'm going to read it again for myself once my wife gets done with it. It's a really good read and I think we'll do it many more times. I think I also have a bunch of birthday presents taken care of now.
