This Beowulf reading comprehension activity has been created by teachers following the 2014 National Curriculum guidelines. Blood, guts, destruction, bravery and all glory and honor to God Almighty, lumped into one little package! According to Beowulf’s wishes, they burn their departed king’s body on a huge funeral pyre and then bury him with a massive treasure in a barrow overlooking the sea. My just turned six year old was breathless with excitement as I read about the final battle with the Dragon while my older children had plenty to contribute to our discussion afterwards. He sits outside the series-driven blockbusters so beloved of publishers nowadays: he hasn't created a Harry Potter or an Alex Rider – and I admire him for resisting that.

Beowulf - English - UKS2 - FULL UNIT | Teaching Resources Beowulf - English - UKS2 - FULL UNIT | Teaching Resources

I could really imagine I was Beowulf , saving lives and protecting the inn ocent from ferocious monsters! Biography: Michael Morpurgo was 2003-2005 Children's Laureate, has written over one hundred books and is the winner of many awards, including the Whitbread Children's Book Award, the Smarties Book Prize, the Blue Peter Award and the Red House Children's Book Award.Grendel’s mother, a swamp-hag who lives in a desolate lake, comes to Heorot seeking revenge for her son’s death. Inspired by the challenge, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a small company of men, determined to defeat Grendel. In the Scandinavian kingdoms of the Danes and the Geats, young Geatish prince Beowulf comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, when the latter's people are repeatedly ravaged during the night by the evil human-eating monster Grendel.

Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo, Michael Foreman | Waterstones

All the talk of evil, blood, and violence doesn't rest well with this gentle heart, but I can understand the excitement that this book holds for some. Although Michael Morpurgo is most well-known for his original tales from historical periods of war (War Horse, Private Peaceful, Friend or Foe), he provides here a wonderfully accessible adaptation of the anonymous Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf for LKS2 readers. He has an unerring moral compass – his schoolteacher past has never quite left him – and books such as War Horse and The Butterfly Lion have a strong social concience and an honesty that makes them universal. He won the 1995 Whitbread Children's Book Award for The Wreck of the Zanzibar, the 1996 Nestle Smarties Book Prize for The Butterfly Lion, and the 2000 Children's Book Award for Kensuke's Kingdom.

Beowulf knows he is putting his life in danger but is still willing to do what he has to do to save the people .